In a bid, which the Royal Nepali Army (RNA) said it foiled two months ago, Maoists had attempted “to assassinate army chief, General Pyara Jung Thapa through a car bomb explosion in Kathmandu.”

“Our intelligence bureau got early information and made the attempt unsuccessful,” RNA spokesperson Col. Deepak Gurung told a press meet on Thursday.

According to him, Maoists had planted explosives in the empty space below the back seats of a red Gipsy, with registration number Ba. 2 Cha. 7422.

“They had plans to ram the vehicle with that of the army chief,” Col. Gurung said. “They had selected Pulchowk, in particular the road in front of Hotel Narayani, as the location to carry out their plan.”

“RNA intelligence arrested a Maoist along with the vehicle from Baneshor area, before he and his associates could put the plan in action,” Col. Gurung said.

In yet another incident, RNA also recovered a white car, plated Ba. 2 Cha 2793 being used by the Maoists from Jorpati area of the capital two months ago, he added. The RNA team also seized many duplicate plates of the vehicle from the same incident.

The two vehicles were on display for journalists at the RNA headquarters on Thursday.