Four people including a minor were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off at an election assembly of Nepali Congress (NC) at Bhaladmi Tol in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City-9 on Thursday.

According to the police, one-year-old Youwan Neupane, Samrina Adhikari, 16, Dhan Bahadur Shrestha, 50, and Gita Acharya, 40, were injured in the explosion. Thirteen others have sustained minor injuries in the incident.

The IED detonated near the podium of a corner meeting organised by State Minister Sumitra Devi Chaudhary and Nirmala Gachhadhar at around 11:50 this morning.

The shrapnel from the IED injured Neupane, who was playing nearby the stage, in his head. Likewise, Adhikari has also sustained shrapnel injury in her head while Shrestha received injuries in his abdomen and shrapnel has injured Acharya in the leg.

The injured are receiving medical treatment at Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences and in Biratnagar.

Security personnel deployed here suspect that a socket bomb with a set timer could have been used as the explosion was huge.

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer Gopal Prasad Parajuli said that there is a system to grant permission for any big political meeting only after thorough security checks however, it is not applied when it comes to small meetings.

CDO Parajuli further said that they have upped security measures so as to prevent such incidents in future programmes.