Police shot dead an ethnic Madhesi demonstrator in south-east Nepal on Saturday, an official said, taking the number of people killed in a fortnight of protests calling for autonomy to 15.
Protests by the Madhesi People's Rights Forum, representing people living in Nepal's southern plains, have clouded peace moves between the government and Maoists ending a decade-old conflict.
The shooting took place in the frontier town of Birgunj, 60 km (40 miles) south-east of Kathmandu, when hundreds defied a curfew and forced their way into a police post, Shambhu Koirala, the chief administrator of the town, said. "Police were forced to take action when protesters attacked them," Koirala said.
At least 12 protesters were wounded. Six of them were taken by helicopter to Kathmandu for treatment, he said. The Madhesi group says "ruling elites" dominated by people from the northern hills have kept them out of jobs in the government, police and army, and seats in Nepal's interim parliament.
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