At least two Madhesi protesters have been killed in fresh clashes with security personnel in southern part of Nepal. According to reports Police resorted to firing late last night after they were attacked when they tried to evict cadres of United Democratic Madhesi Front from blocking a key highway in Saptari district. As many as 17 protesters and 25 police personnel were also injured in the clashes.
The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the area to safeguard vehicular movement along the East-West highway.
Madhesis, Indian-origin inhabitants of Nepal’s Terai region, are protesting against division of their ancestral homeland into seven provinces in the new Constitution. More than 40 people have, so far, died in the agitation which has also affected transit of goods and fuel to the Himalayan nation from India.