Queen's brother tells of events in Nepalese massacre

KATHMANDU - A member of the Nepalese royal family has given the first public account of how a drunken crown prince massacred the King and eight of his relatives.

Suraj Shamsher Rana, the brother of the murdered Queen, provided details which reinforced the conclusion that the heir to the Nepali throne - Crown Prince Dipendra - ran amok.

Although the brother was not present at the tragic dinner, he says that he has spoken to several survivors from last Friday's killings at the Narayanhiti Palace.

His account adds authority to anonymous explanations that have surfaced in Kathmandu soon after the event, but which until now have lacked a name to lend authenticity.

The Nepalese royal family was in the custom of meeting for dinner every Friday night. The guest list was strictly limited to a maximum of 28 guests, although last week only 22 were believed to have been present; it was an "informal" event by royal standards.

Last Friday's function took place in Crown Prince Dipendra's private quarters within the palace.

According to Suraj Shamsher Rana's account to the Associated Press, Dipendra had been drinking and had "misbehaved" - no details of this was supplied - with one of the guests.

When an angry King Birendra ordered him out of the room, the Crown Prince was escorted from the function and taken upstairs to his room in a drunken state.

It is alleged that half-an-hour later he reappeared on the stairs, dressed in army fatigues and carrying at least one assault rifle - although other reports speak of two, or even three, sub-machine-guns.

He walked through a roomful of stunned guests into the next room where his father was. He fired two shots into the ceiling, then shot his father, who fell to the floor in a pool of blood.

From that point the story reads like a remake of the Columbine High School massacre, but weirdly relocated to the royal surroundings of a palace in the Himalayas.

Dipendra continued firing, sending guests screaming and hiding behind sofas.

He went into the garden where Prince Nirajan, his younger brother, tried in vain to restrain him. "Don't do it!" Nirajan screamed. "Please kill me if you want." Dipendra killed him and then shot his mother, who tried to hold him back.

Dhirendra Shah, the King's youngest brother, then stepped forward. "You have done enough damage, hand over the gun now," he cried. But Crown Prince Dipendra shot him three times.

On Monday, after suffering three strokes, Dhirendra died in hospital.

Soon afterwards, while standing some 20-feet away from the bodies of his mother and brother, Dipendra then shot himself through the head.

He was taken to the Army Hospital in a coma, and in accordance with the Constitution's inflexible rules of succession he was named King Dipendra the next day. He died in hospital on Monday without ever regaining consciousness.

- INDEPENDENT