Curfew in Nepal villages after bloody clash

KATHMANDU, (Reuters) Authorities imposed curfews on two south-western Nepali villages on Saturday, a day after one person died in clashes between ethnic Madhesis protesting for more autonomy and villagers defying their strike.

More than a dozen people were also wounded on Friday in the clashes in Khajura and Kohalpur villages during a general strike called by the Madhesi People's Rights Forum, police said.

The Madhesis belong to a large ethnic group living in Nepal's southern plains and have been demanding a greater share in government jobs and seats in parliament.

At least 31 people have been killed this year in the protests organised by the forum that have overshadowed a peace process between the government and Maoists to end a decade-long insurgency in which some 13,000 people died.

The Madhesis live along the narrow strip of the Terai region which is home to nearly half of Nepal's 26 million people and share closer cultural links with neighbouring India than with Nepalis residing in the Himalayan mountains of the north.

On Friday, Nepal's interim parliament approved a plan giving more seats to the southern plains peoples in a new assembly to be elected in June, a move aimed at appeasing protesters. The assembly is to prepare a new constitution for Nepal.

"Day curfews have been imposed in two villages to avoid further trouble, though the situation is peaceful now," one police officer said from Nepalgunj, the biggest town in the region.