Bhutanese refugees clash with Nepal police, boy dies

KATHMANDU, May 27 (Reuters) A 16-year-old refugee boy was killed and about a dozen other people wounded in a United Nations camp in southeast Nepal today during a clash between police and asylum seekers from Bhutan, state radio said.

The incident occured in Beldangi camp in Jhapa district after the Nepali police, who had gone to settle a dispute between rival groups of refugees, were attacked by them and were forced to open fire, Radio Nepal said.

''Sixteen-year-old Narapati Dhungel died after police were forced to open fire to bring the situation under control,'' it said, without giving details.

Jhapa is about 320 km southeast of Kathmandu.

More than 106,000 refugees of ethnic Nepali origin are living in seven UN-supported camps in Nepal since fleeing nearby Bhutan 16 years ago, demanding democracy and human rights.

An offer by the United States to resettle tens of thousands of the Bhutanese has sparked tension in recent months between those refugees who favour resettlement in the United States and those who insist on being repatriated.

REUTERS SLD RK2136