The luxury Soaltee Crowne Plaza hotel in Kathmandu has closed after an attacker on a bicycle tossed four grenades over a wall into its compound. The bombs fell near a tennis court and no one was injured. Maoist insurgents had threatened the hotel and nine other businesses with attacks if they didn’t close down. The hotel, affiliated with Britain’s InterContinental Hotels Group, moved all its guests to other hotels in the city. Several other businesses in Kathmandu planned to close because of the threat. The Maoists also threatened to blockade Kathmandu and prevent supplies from entering the city unless the government accedes to their demands, but the government claims it has forces in place to prevent such a blockade.
