Two civilians were killed when an explosive placed by the Maoist insurgents to enforce their blockade exploded along the Biratnagar-Rangeli road Monday morning.

According to reports, rickshaw puller Domi Sardar and another civilian Tarachan Shah—who was riding on a bicycle—died on the spot when an improvised explosive placed by the rebels exploded near Loandra river in the eastern district of Morang at around 9 a. m.

Police said Shah’s body has been taken to the Koshi zonal hospital for postmortem while the badly damaged body of Sardar remained unattended.

Sardar and Shah are the first civilian casualties after the Maoist rebels called off their six-day-long blockade beginning Monday.

In a statement issued Sunday, Maoist chairman Prachanda thanked masses for what he called “grand success of the blockade.”

Dozens of hapless civilians have been killed or have turned disabled due to explosion of improvised explosives placed by the insurgents to enforce their frequent ‘bandhs’, `chakka jams’ and ‘blockades.’