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KATMANDU, Nepal — A bomb exploded near a school in northwestern Nepal on Saturday, killing three children and injuring four others, police said. 

The powerful explosion followed attacks Thursday night by Maoist guerrillas on four towns in western Nepal that left at least 54 people dead. 

The blast occurred in the town of Laltin Bazaar, about 370 miles northwest of the capital, Katmandu, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity. 

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion fell on Maoist rebels who have been fighting for the last six years to replace the Himalayan kingdom’s constitutional monarchy with communist rule. More than 3,000 people have been killed in the fighting. 

The rebels have been accused by some human rights groups of indiscriminately attacking security forces and civilians. Rights groups also accuse police of targeting civilians in their crackdown on the rebels. 

Government officials said the rebels killed 48 police officers and six civilians during raids on a police station, the house of Nepal’s security minister, two banks and bus in fighting that ended Friday morning. Security officials patrolling the Nepal-India border, however, told The Associated Press that nearly 100 police officers and civilians were killed in the attacks.