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CNN Saturday Morning News

Nepalese Crown Prince Shoots Royal Family, Self

Aired June 02, 2001 - 07:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Nepal, another nation in turmoil after a shooting at the royal palace. Government and military officials say the crown prince, Dipendra, opened fire on his family with an automatic weapon and then turned the gun on himself. When the smoke cleared, the king, the queen, and six other members of the royal family were dead. The crown prince is hospitalized and on life support, but he has been named king nevertheless.

Meanwhile, the late king's brother has been named regent to the throne.

For the latest from the capital city of Kathmandu, we're joined on the line by CNN's Kasra Naji.

What's the latest, Kasra?

KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles I'm standing outside the military hospital here in Kathmandu, where the funeral procession is due to begin in a few minutes here. Coffins containing the bodies of the king, the queen, their son, their daughter, and two of the king's sisters, among others, are going to be carried through the streets of Kathmandu to the crematorium where they will be burned on wood pyres according to Hindu tradition.

Thousands of people have gathered here, and more are lining up the streets where the procession is going to go through.

The latest here is that -- what -- as you said, the king and the queen and the eight members of the family were shot dead, reportedly, according to sources close to the palace, by the crown prince, and the latest is that the privy council, which is the council of elder statesmen, has named him, who is in a coma in the hospital, as the king, and the king's brother, who was the only senior member of the family who was not at this fateful dinner party at the palace last night, as the regent or the acting king, a decision which has baffled many people here. They don't know why the man who supposedly was responsible for this carnage has been named the king -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Kasra, if you could give us any indication whether there's any sort of speculation there in Kathmandu about a possible motive for all of this?

NAJI: Well, there is speculation that there has been a long- running dispute in the family. This has to do with the choice of brides for the crown prince. Apparently the queen was not happy with the choice of the crown prince, and there was dispute over this. And the speculation here is that this was the reason why the crown prince did what he did.

But we don't have any hard information to back this, and the king himself has been away from the governing of this country. He's basically a figurehead, much the same way as the queen in Britain. And therefore, I -- it's very hard to see why somebody wants to get rid of him or his family -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kasra Naji in Kathmandu, thanks much.

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