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King Birendra, the Queen, Prince Niranjan and Crown Prince Dipendra, now King, along with other relatives attending a weekend dinner at Narayanhity Palace on Friday night were injured and rushed to the Birendra Military Hospital at Chhauni, acting king Gyanendra said in a statement aired by Nepal TV and Radio and released by the official RSS news agency.
This is the first official statement since the bizarre shooting incident took place inside the palace but, contrary to newspaper reports, made no mention that Dipendra had fired the automatic weapon at his father, mother, sister and brother.
Gyanendra said despite utmost efforts made by the doctors at the hospital, the King and his family members could not be saved.
The statement in Nepali said the State Council (Raj Parishad) after due deliberation as per the Constitution, decided to declare Dipendra as the King.
Dipendra, according to it, was at present unable to discharge his duties since he was in a critical condition in a hospital and, therefore, Gyanendra, the late King's younger brother, had been appointed as the Regent in the absence of the new King.
"The responsibility is now on the shoulders of Rajya Sahayak (Regent) Gyanendra, it said.
Influential Nepali English daily The Kathmandu Post on Sunday reported that Dipendra, who had 'killed' his father, mother and other royals with an automatic weapon following a dispute over his marriage plans, was in a critical condition and had been put on a ventilator. The paper said Dipendra had 'shot himself' after the incident.
However, official sources said Dipendra had received gun shot wounds on his back.
Meanwhile, official news agency RSS said the ashes of the king, queen and other royals would be immersed in the river Ganga. However, it did not give details as to when it would take place. As confusion prevailed in the city, people looked for open shops to stock essential commodities and traffic was low on roads.
PTI
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