KATHMANDU, Dec 15 (Reuters): Nepali soldiers opened fire on a group of people near a temple just outside Kathmandu, killing at least 11 people overnight, officials and witnesses said today.
Details of the midnight incident near the tourist resort of Nagarkot were sketchy, and an officer said the army was investigating why the soldiers fired on the crowd.
A soldier was also killed in the incident, a witness said.
A local official said 16 people were wounded.
"Gunshots were heard around midnight near a temple and locals said at least 12 people were dead," Basant Bhattarai, the district administrator of the area, told Reuters.
Nagarkot is 30 km (20 miles) from the Nepali capital.
Nepali troops are deployed across the country to fight Maoist insurgents who want to replace the constitutional monarchy with a communist republic.
More than 12,500 people have died in the conflict since 1996.