Nepal police fire on protesters, two killed

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 (Reuters) Police opened fire on protesters from ethnic Madhesi groups demanding autonomy in southeast Nepal today, killing two people, officials and witnesses said.

At least 21 people were wounded when thousands of protesters defied a curfew at Biratnagar, 200 km southeast of Kathmandu and tried to storm a jail prompting police to open fire, town official Mod Raj Dotel said.

''There are stains of blood on the ground where the shooting took place. People are scared and it is tense here,'' local journalist Bikram Niraula said from Biratnagar, which is also the home town of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Officials say 21 people have been killed and hundreds hurt in clashes over the last month between protesters and police in Terai region, situated in Nepal's southern plains and which is home to most Madhesis.

The protests from the Madhesi People's Rights Forum have cast a shadow over a peace deal between the government and Maoists aimed at ending a decade-old conflict, which has killed more than 13,000 people.

The Madhesi group leading the protests says ruling elites dominated by people from the mountains of Nepal have denied them fair share of jobs in the government, police and army as well as seats in the parliament.

They want an autonomous region for the southern plains within a federal state.

The government says it is ready for talks but protest leaders insist Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, whom they accuse of using excessive force, must resign before negotiations take place.

Prime Minister Koirala was meeting today with leaders of ruling government alliance and Maoists to discuss the unrest.

The trouble started in January from the town of Lahan in the same region where a Maoist activist shot dead a protester. Maoists say they regret that incident.

The government and former Maoist rebels say royalists are behind the unrest.

REUTERS AB PM1750