Nepal mayor shot dead

Security concerns have increased in recent months

The mayor of the southern Nepalese city of Birgunj has been shot dead by suspected Maoist rebels.

Gopal Giri was rushed to hospital but medics were unable to revive him.

Mr Giri was recently appointed as mayor and was a member of Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa's Rastriya Prajatantyra Party.

The BBC's Sushil Sharma says that the cause of the attack is not clear, but Maoist rebels had earlier warned that government appointed mayors in cities of Nepal should leave office.

The mayors were appointed after the cancellation of council elections last year because of security concerns caused by the long-running Maoist insurgency.

Violence in Nepal surged after a seven-month ceasefire broke last August.

More than 8,000 people have been killed during the eight-year old Maoist insurgency.

The rebels want to replace the country's constitutional monarchy with a communist republic.