Nepal soldier kills 12, protest turns anti-King

At least 12 people including three women were killed and 20 wounded as an irate Army personnel indiscriminately fired at a crowd celebrating...

At least 12 people including three women were killed and 20 wounded as an irate Army personnel indiscriminately fired at a crowd celebrating a religious occasion and allegedly committed suicide in the Magargaon area of the Bhaktapur district, early Thursday morning.

According to the local residents, army soldier Basudev Thapa who was deployed in the Royal Nepal Army’s training centre in Nagarkot had gone to the fair, was heckled by some villagers after he misbehaved with local women. He left the fair for sometime but came back with arms.

“He indiscriminately fired at the crowd and later killed himself”, a senior police official said. But there are conflicting versions regarding the number of army personnel present in the scene.

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“We are examining the whole matter. And we will come out with our version once we complete it”, said Col Umesh Bhattarai, spokesman of the RNA.

While the government promptly announced Rs 150,000 as compensation to each of the victim’s families and ordered a probe headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court.

The incident has not only caused tension in the local area, but has also given the seven pro-democracy parties new reasons to attack the king who is the Chairman of the Council of Ministers with the Defence and Royal Nepal Army. The party would be observing a day-long bandh in the Kathmandu valley to protest against the incident.

“The King is in charge of the defence ministry as well as the RNA. He should take the moral responsibility for this incident. Will he quit?”, asked Communist Party of Nepal—United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, addressing a joint rally of the seven parties in Baneshwar area.