Nepal's crown prince shot dead his parents - the king and queen - and several other relatives during a family dinner at the royal palace before turning the gun on himself, officials said today.
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Nepal's Crown Prince,
Prince Dipendra |
But details of the massacre are still unclear as differing official versions have added to speculation about the circumstances behind the killings, the precise number of dead, the condition of the crown prince and the future succession.
An official statement on state-run radio simply said King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, their children Prince Nirajan (22) and Princess Shruti (24) and one of the king's cousins, Princess Jayanti Shah, had "passed away".
The statement gave no indication of the crown prince's role, but said he had been appointed king. It added due to his "serious condition" in intensive care, Prince Gyanendra, middle brother of the late king, had been named regent in his place.
But Home Minister Mr Ram Chandra Paudel said a further six people had been shot dead - including the king's two sisters and one of their husbands - when Crown Prince Dipendra (29) opened fire with two semi-automatic weapons during the family's regular Friday dinner at the Narayan Hity Palace.
"It was the crown prince," said Mr Paudel. "This is the most unfortunate and shocking event in the history of the Nepalese royal family."
Some officials said the crown prince was in a deep coma and had been declared "clinically dead."
Late this evening, Prime Minister Mr Girija Prasad Koirala - whose car was stoned by angry crowds during Saturday's state funeral - also said a total of eight royals had been killed.
In a statement on state television and radio, Mr Koirala expressed his deep shock at the killings but failed to clarify the precise circumstances. "The truth about the whole thing will be known to all soon," he offered by way of explanation.
Sources close to the royal palace said the massacre was triggered by a bitter family row over the woman the crown prince wanted to marry.
The crown prince reportedly wanted to wed 22-year-old Ms Devyani Rana, daughter of former foreign and finance minister Mr Pashupati Shumshere Rana, but his choice was strongly opposed by Queen Aishwarya, who had another candidate in mind.
Prince Dipendra had refused to be swayed, revealing he had already married Ms Devyani secretly according to Hindu rites.
Sources said 55-year-old Harvard-educated King Birendra had warned the heir to the throne that unless he bowed to the queen's wishes he would be passed over for succession in favour of his younger brother, Prince Nirajan.
As the argument at the dinner table peaked, the crown prince apparently stormed from the room. He went to his private quarters in the palace, armed himself with two semiautomatic weapons, walked back to the dining room and opened fire, before shooting himself.
Hundreds of thousands of stunned and weeping mourners lined the streets of the Nepalese capital this afternoon to watch the funeral cortege of the king and queen, and the three other royals state radio had identified.
The cortege made its way to the Golden Temple on the banks of the holy River Bagmatim where Hindu last rites were administered under a specially erected canopy and the bodies of the king, queen and Prince Nirajan were placed on adjoining pyres, garlanded with flowers.
The bodies of the king's daughter and cousin were to be cremated later in the evening at the same spot.
The Home Ministry ordered three days of national mourning and requested all male government officials shave their heads as a mark of respect.
King Birendra had ruled predominantly-Hindu Nepal as an absolute monarch from 1972 until 1990, when his role became purely constitutional in the wake of a pro-democracy movement.
AFP