MP shot dead in Nepal

Kathmandu, Sep 23 (UNI) An unidentified armed group shot dead Member of Parliament Krishna Charan Shrestha when he was on his regular morning walk in Lahan in Eastern Nepal today, police said.

Mr Shrestha, who represented the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) in the House of Representative, died on way to Siraha Hospital after receiving bullets fired from a Small Machine Gun (SMG), the Kantipur quoted police as saying.

''Two of the three assailants were killed after angry locals beat the duo to death as they attempted to flee the scene,'' reports said.

The motive of the killing was not known but the police suspected Terai Mukti Morcha, a breakaway faction of Maoists, behind the killing.

Meanwhile a helicopter, carrying about 24 people--including Minister of State for Forest Gopal Rai, has been missing shortly after it took off from eastern hilly district of Taplejung today, local media reports said.

The helicopter was on its way to the district headquarter from Ghumsa, a remote village in Taplejung in eastern Nepal.

The Minister, his wife, top officials of the Forest Ministry and other officials from the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) were on board the chopper, according to the reports.

Meanwhile, helicopters have been mobilsed in search of the missing helicopter.

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