Violence today continued unabated in Nepal over a new Constitution that proposes a federal structure as a policeman and a civilian were killed in latest clashes between protesters and security personnel in western Nepal, taking the death toll to 21.
Tension also ran high in eastern Nepal after similar clashes erupted in different places.
A policeman was killed during a clash that erupted between security personnel and protesters at Mainapokhar in Bardiya district in the morning, according to police.
A group of protestors brandishing lethal weapons attacked security personnel at Mainapokhar at around 8 am and the deceased, identified as a head constable, suffered serious injuries when the security personnel tried to protect two buses.
In a separate incident, a motorcyclist died in Piprahawa Chowk of Ganapur on the Nepalgunj-Kohalpur road section in Banke district when the protesters pelted stones at him for defying the strike.
The deceased has been identified as a 22-year-old man.
According to police, the youth - who sustained serious injuries after being hit by stones - succumbed on his way to the hospital.
The pillion rider was seriously injured in the incident, police said.
Two cadres of Madhesi Morcha involved in pelting stones at the biker have been arrested, they said.
Clashes erupted in Biratnagar, the industrial town of eastern Nepal, between the security personnel and agitating groups in different places.
The police used baton charge and fired several rounds of tear gas cells after the agitators burnt tires to block the roads.
Till yesterday, a total of 19 people were killed in the violence that has engulfed the Himalayan nation over the controversial statute.
An unidentified armed group had torched four vehicles parked in the premises of a sugar mill in Garuda Municipality of Rautahat district yesterday.
The group barged into the premises of the sugar mill with sharp weapons and took two security guards under control before setting three four-wheelers and a motorbike on fire last night, according to police.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an end to the violence and appealed to all stake-holders to hold talks.
There has been indefinite strike imposed by Joint Madhesi Front and Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee in several districts of southern and western Nepal for over three weeks.
The Madhesi Front and Tharuhat Struggle Committee have been staging protests nearly for a month to show their disapproval to the seven province federal model proposed by the major political parties to demand halting of the constitution-drafting process.
