UN: Nepal's use of lethal force "inexcusable,"

UNITED NATIONS: Nepal's use of lethal force against protesters, which resulted in three deaths in the capital Thursday, is "inexcusable," the U.N. human rights office said.

Clashes between protesters and police in Katmandu in the last 24 hours also injured 160 people, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said from Nepal.

"OHCHR-Nepal is of the view that the use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators today in Katmandu is without justification and inexcusable," the office said in a statement.

The office said police in the southeast town of Chandragadhi had killed two more protesters on Wednesday.

Witnesses and hospital officials in the Nepalese capital said police had fired on thousands of pro-democracy protesters marching toward the capital in defiance of a curfew on Thursday. Two weeks of violent protests and a general strike against palace rule have paralyzed the Himalayan kingdom.

The U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has been extremely critical of the Nepalese forces' tactics against protesters.

The U.N. office said its staff had been denied passes to go out after the curfew to see the protests. Office staff were promised passes for Friday after protesting the decision.

Kieran Dwyer, the U.N. rights office's Nepal spokesman, said the movement restrictions were a clear violation of agreements signed with the Nepalese government.

Meanwhile Nepal's royal government imposed an 11-hour curfew in the capital Friday, as another protester wounded a day earlier at a rally against King Gyanendra's rule died taking the number of demonstrators killed by security forces to 14.

Despite the curfew warnings, protesters were preparing to take to the streets again Friday. A day earlier, police opened fire on protests attended by tens of thousands of people for defying a 25-hour curfew, killing at least three on the spot and wounding dozens more.

Notices posted by the government early Friday said the 9 a.m.-8 p.m. curfew must be observed in the capital Katmandu, the suburbs of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, and in Pokhara, a resort town 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the capital.

The notices warned people to stay indoors during the curfew hours and that those who violate the order will be shot, adding that the curfews were imposed "to protect the people, property and peace."

The protester who died at a hospital early Friday became the 14th person to be killed by security forces firing on demonstrations against the king's rule since opposition parties launched a general strike April 6.

He was among 26 people shot at Gulariya, 500 kilometers (310 miles) south west of Katmandu, during a protest Thursday.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that security forces were compelled to open fire because the situation was getting out of control.

The statement claimed 13 policemen were also wounded in clashes with the protesters who vandalized government offices and tried but failed to set them on fire.

Police also opened fire at a demonstration Thursday in the Kalanki neighborhood on the western edge of Katmandu, killing three protesters. Stretches of the main road that circles the city were littered with bricks and burning tires.

An estimated 100,000 people walked from surrounding villages to march peacefully along the main road that circles the capital city.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Friday's curfew was necessary to prevent more violent protests.

KATHMANDU, Friday AP