"Three children from the same family died on the spot when the bomb exploded inside their house in Sakranti Bazaar on Thursday afternoon," said Surendra Thapa, the deputy superintendent of police in Tehrathum district, 575 kilometres (359 miles) east of Kathmandu.
The police said they had no idea why there was a bomb in the home, and that they had sent a team to the village, a two-day walk away from Tehrathum, to investigate.
The area where the accident occurred is a rebel Maoist stronghold, like large swathes of Nepal's countryside.
Landmines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance cause dozens of deaths and injuries, including to children, every year in the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006