Maoists kill Madhesi teenager in Nepal clash

KATHMANDU, Feb 28 (Reuters) A teenager was killed in a clash between Maoist activists and supporters of an ethnic Madhesi group during a transport strike in southwestern Nepal, an official said today.

The clash occurred yesterday when Madhesi protesters stopped vehicles used by former Maoist rebels to collect people for a public rally at Puraina Udaypur village, 320 km southwest of Kathmandu.

Another 14 people were injured in the clash, government official Narendra Raj Sharma said by phone.

Madhesi activists blamed the former guerrillas, whose leaders are currently part of Nepal's interim parliament following a peace deal with the government in November last year.

''The Maoists chased the villagers, beat them and killed the young boy who was a member of our forum,'' said Sarbadip Ojha, chief of the local unit of the Madhesi People's Rights Forum.

Last month, a similar clash between Maoists and Forum supporters in the eastern town of Lahan sparked unrest in which at least 25 people were killed.

The Forum, which represents ethnic Madhesis in the southern plains, had called the weeklong transport strike in the Terai region, to demand autonomy and concessions from the government.

Barring police and press vehicles, hardly any other car, bus or truck was on any road due to the strike, which began on Monday.

The Forum suspended protests this month after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala agreed to meet some of their demands, including more representation for Madhesis in parliament.

Ethnic Madhesis are culturally and linguistically closer to people living in India's Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states than to Nepalis living in the mountains, and the Forum says they have been discriminated by Nepal's hill-dominated political elite.

Madhesis make up about a third of Nepal's 26 million people.

Reuters PDM VP0935