Thousands of Nepalis tried to storm a state hospital yesterday, burned government vehicles and clashed with riot police, defying a curfew to protest against the king as a pro-democracy shut down was extended indefinitely. A woman, wounded in police firing in a town south of the capital Kathmandu, died yesterday, a doctor said.

Three people, including the woman, were wounded at Narayanghat, about 150 km (95 miles) from Kathmandu, when troops fired at protesters demanding King Gyanendra end his rule. It was the second death in shooting by government forces on protesters during a four-day anti-monarchy strike across the poor Himalayan kingdom that started on Thursday.

Nepal?s seven main political parties, who had called the nationwide strike and protests that shut down the country ? said they were extending the campaign indefinitely. The move was expected to cause the government to extend the curfew in Kathmandu and many other towns and keep mobile phone services suspended, government sources said.

Tension was rising in Narayanghat, witnesses said, adding that the curfew had not stopped people from taking to the streets. In the western tourist resort town of Pokhara, thousands of people tried to storm a state hospital where the body of a man shot dead by troops on Saturday was taken, witnesses said. ?Thousands of people are out on the streets. There is high tension here,? said Keshav Lamichhane, a local journalist.

The seven political parties had planned a big rally against the king in Kathmandu on Saturday but tough security meant that only a handful of small protests could be held. But hundreds of protesters defied the curfew and demonstrated at several places on the outskirts of Kathmandu, burning tyres on roads, blocking them with rocks and logs, and pelting stones and bricks at riot police.

Y.P. RAJESH and Gopal SHARMA