Police in Nepal on Sunday arrested the chief of an armed group accused of masterminding attacks on churches and mosques that have killed at least eight people in the last two years, a police chief said.
Ram Prasad Mainali of Hindu extremist group the National Defence Army, which says it wants to restore the Hindu monarchy abolished in 2008, was arrested in the southeastern town of Jhapa, according to police.
"Acting on a tip-off, we caught Mainali while hiding at one of his relative's houses," said Devendra Subedi, chief of the Morang district police office.
"He has confessed to us that he masterminded a series of blasts in various churches and mosques killing at least eight people. "We are investigating all his criminal activities in the past," Subedi told AFP from Jhapa, 280 kilometres (175 miles) south-east of Kathmandu.
The police officer said Mainali led one of Nepal's most powerful armed outfits, threatening peace and security. The group was involved in a powerful bomb explosion at a Catholic Church in May this year in which at least four people were killed and 14 others injured.
It was also involved in blasts at mosques last year that killed at least four people. And it was involved in targetting individuals and bombing government offices in various parts of the country over the last two years, he said.