One of three members of a high-level panel set up to investigate Nepal's palace massacre has refused to join the inquiry. The General Secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist Party said that the panel announced by Nepal's new king should have been set up according to existing law and the constitution. The panel is expected to report on the killings which wiped out most of the royal family. King Birendra, the queen and eight other members of the family died in the shooting. Dhirendra Shah, the youngest brother of the new king, died from his injuries last night.
The police have now re-imposed a curfew in the capital, Kathmandu. A curfew was first introduced overnight as citizens took to the streets to voice their disbelief of the explanation given for the deaths. Authorities said that at least two people were killed and 19 others injured in riots yesterday, just hours after new King Gyanendra was crowned.
Gyanendra pledged the public would be given full details within days of the shootings. Crown Prince Dipendra was the first suspect of the massacre, but Gyanendra then incensed many Nepalese by saying that the deaths were caused by accidental gunfire.
