Election candidate shot dead in Nepal

NEPAL: A communist running in elections that will shape Nepal's political future has been killed, the first candidate to be slain in the campaign, officials said on Wednesday.

The death late Tuesday of Kamal Prasad Adhikari sparked immediate calls by Nepal's election commission for better security for candidates in the south of the country in the run-up to the April 10 polls.

Intruders burst into the home of Adhikari, 55, in the village of Bethani, 370 kilometres (230 miles) southwest of capital Kathmandu, and shot him while he was sleeping, officials said.

"He was in his house when he was shot. According to his family, there were four people who came and shot him," chief district officer Narendra Raj Sharma told AFP. "He died in hospital while undergoing surgery."

Adhikari was running for the National People's Front Nepal, a small communist party.

"We've arrested two suspects. The search for the killers is still going on and we've deployed extra security forces in the area," Sharma said.

Kathmandu, Wednesday, AFP