KAPILBASTU — In the remote village of Mahadiyama in Kapilbastu district, 350 km southwest of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, local people still shudder with fear when they recall the murder one year ago of villager Salim Fakir and his elder brothers Jama and Namdan, who were shot dead in cold blood by Maoist insurgents. Local witnesses said that the Maoists, who have been waging war against the government for 10 years, had accused the brothers of joining a local vigilante... (GunPolicy.org)

KATHMANDU — Ignoring warnings of possible bankruptcy, Nepal's cash-strapped government has decided to continue with its arms buying from China and Israel, spending at least an additional $20 million. The government recently paid cash worth about $15 million to the Israeli government for ammunition for M-16 rifles. Now it has paid another $10 million for Chinese-made rifles. The new consignment of nearly 25,000 rifles is to reach Kathmandu. The new arms and... (GunPolicy.org)

Nepal's seven biggest parties called for a general strike today to protest against the killings of a dozen people after a drunken soldier fired into a crowd of Hindu pilgrims on the outskirts of Kathmandu. At least a score more were wounded in the shooting at a temple in Nagarkot on Wednesday night. Witnesses said that an apparently inebriated armed soldier had returned to a spot where worshippers had gathered after an earlier spat with a local. He then fired... (GunPolicy.org)

LONDON — Western governments are flouting their own rules and contributing to grave human rights abuses by selling arms and weapons systems to crisis-torn Nepal, rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Wednesday. It accused Britain, India and the United States of supplying thousands of assault rifles to the poor Himalayan kingdom which is facing a Maoist insurgency and said Belgium was selling machine guns and South Africa military communications... (GunPolicy.org)

The last decade was seen terrifying abuses of human rights in armed conflicts around the world including Nepal. In 2002, more than 600 factories in more than 95 countries throughout the world are legally producing small arms and at least 50 developing countries are producing small arms, and 26 developing countries are exporting them. There are around half a billion military small arms around the world. Some half a million people around the world are killed by small... (GunPolicy.org)

MUMBAI — Mafia gangs of Mumbai are major buyers of small arms in the international market, and police here are not surprised by reports that they are now making purchases from Nepal's Maoist guerrillas. The mafia has established links in the international drugs, arms and human trafficking circuit for several years, police officers say. Apart from different guns, the mafia is known to buy assault rifles and huge amounts of ammunition. The underworld is known to... (GunPolicy.org)

KATHMANDU — Assault rifles extensively used by the Indian Army and paramilitary forces and offered as a friendship gesture to Nepal have triggered a controversy. The INSAS (Indian National Small Arms System) rifle, manufactured at the Ichhapur Rifles Factory in West Bengal and in operation for nearly a decade, is being provided to the Nepalese government by New Delhi at a highly subsidised rate to fight the Maoist insurgency. India is footing 70 percent of the... (GunPolicy.org)

KATMANDU, Nepal — An official investigation into the massacre of almost all of Nepal's royal family has concluded that the late Crown Prince Dipendra was to blame for the killings. The report corroborates earlier witness accounts that the prince-drunk and under the influence of drugs-gunned down the king, queen and seven other royals during a family dinner. He then turned one of the several weapons he was carrying on himself, causing wounds from which he later died... (GunPolicy.org)

The Crown Prince of Nepal, at the centre of Saturday's shooting massacre of his family, was gun mad and liked to draw his hand-gun like "a cowboy", a former Nepal embassy official living in Wellington says. Early reports from Kathmandu suggested that Crown Prince Dipendra, 29, shot and killed his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, and other family members at a weekly dinner. But the palace said last night the gun had "exploded", accidentally killing up to... (GunPolicy.org)

It caused a stir when it emerged that the new boy had a loaded revolver in his room. But then he had concubines in the palace back home. From the moment Crown Prince Dipendra arrived at Eton the year before GCSEs, it was clear this diminutive but stocky Nepalese was different from the usual fare that made up our year. For a start there was the gun. Proudly shown to visitors, it was clear "Dippy", as he was known, knew how to use it. It was there on the instructions of... (GunPolicy.org)

The King and Queen of Nepal were killed by their son last night when he opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Narayanhiti royal palace in Kathmandu, leaving 14 people dead. Crown Prince Dipendra, 29, walked in on the royal family's regular Friday night dinner dressed in army fatigues and raked the room with bullets before turning the gun on himself. King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, Prince Nirajan, Princess Shruti and four other royal family members were said... (GunPolicy.org)