Clashes over charter kills 6 in Nepal

Five demonstrators and a police officer died in clashes in southern Nepal as protests intensified against a proposed new constitution, police said yesterday.

As violence escalated on Friday as protesters dragged the wounded police officer out of an ambulance and killed him, with anger running high after security forces fired on protesters.

"Five protesters -- two in Mahottari and three in Dhanusa district -- were killed after police were forced to fire at aggressive demonstrators yesterday," police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam told AFP.

"A police officer was also killed."

More than 30 people including 11 police officers and an 18-month-old boy have been killed in violent clashes between security forces and protesters against a proposed new constitution that would divide the Himalayan nation into seven provinces.

Tensions are particularly high in the country's southern plains, where historically marginalised communities including the Madhesi and Tharu ethnic minorities say the new internal borders will limit their political representation.