KATHMANDU, May 6: Suspected Maoists shot dead one of Nepal’s top Hindu priests on Friday as he chanted hymns before a sacred fire in what was believed to be the first such killing since the rebels took up arms in 1996, police said. Narayan Prasad Pokharel, chairman of the World Hindu Council-Nepal, was killed in Butwal in Rupandehi District in the southwestern Nepal by three to four attackers, police and state radio said.

However, they did not know why the 50-year-old priest had been targeted. “Maoist suspects shot dead the priest while he was performing a religious ceremony,” a police official said.

There was no comment immediately available from the Maoists. The rebels rarely make statements on their activities but when they do it is usually after a few days. Security forces were hunting for the killers, the police official said. A friend of the priest, Khageswar Bhattarai, who was taking part in the ceremony, was wounded in the attack, police said.

He was undergoing treatment in hospital but was out of danger, police said. The shooting took place as Pokharel carried out the last day of a traditional ceremony known as “yagya” to seek the blessing of Lord Vishnu, one of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon.

Police said it was believed to be the first time a leading Hindu figure has been shot dead by the rebels since they launched their insurgency nine years ago to overthrow the monarchy and install a communist republic in the world’s only Hindu kingdom.

Three months ago, King Gyanendra dismissed the government and seized power to end the increasingly bloody conflict that has claimed more than 11,000 lives. Thousands of Hindu faithful thronged the hospital in Butwal where the priest’s body was taken to pay their last respects before the corpse was flown to Kathmandu where it was cremated late Friday.

The World Hindu Federation condemned the murder.

“The brutal killing of those working in the field of religion is a highly condemnable and anti-religious act,” it said in a statement.

Pokharel is survived by six children and two wives. A nephew of the priest said the victim had been raising money to build a college but had none with him.

“My uncle had raised a lot of money by performing the ‘yagyas’ and built a lot of schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, welfare centres for the old and other people,” said Hari Khanal.—AFP