Prince: Nepal massacre 'an accident'

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- On Nepal's first full day of national mourning after the shooting deaths of several members of the royal family, Nepal's caretaker king has changed the official story behind the tragedy.

"According to the information received by us [they] were seriously injured in an accidental firing from an automatic weapon," Prince Regent Gyanendra is quoted as saying in a statement broadcast on state radio Sunday.

With much of the country still reeling from shock, Nepal's government has remained tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding the Friday night massacre in which King Birendra, Queen Ashwarya and other members of the royal family died.

The prince regent's statement did not make clear who was holding the gun at the time of the accident, but earlier statements from the Nepalese interior minister had said Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikramshot his family Friday night after a bitter quarrel.

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Military sources at the palace told The Associated Press that the prince had turned against his family because his mother did not approve of his choice of bride.

Dipendra was critically wounded after his apparent attempt at suicide.

He remains in a coma on life support at an army hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

Nearly all the shops in Kathmandu remained closed as a mark of respect. Government officials were easily recognizable in the streets, their heads shaved under orders by the home ministry.

The ministry also requested that all celebratory events, such as weddings, be postponed for the 13 days earmarked for performing rituals in remembrance of the king and his family.

Television cable operators switched off all entertainment channels, leaving only state television and 24-hour news channels.

Shock decision

On Saturday afternoon, Nepal's state council sent shock waves through the country and around the world by announcing that Dipendra -- the apparent perpetrator of the palace massacre -- had himself been made king.

Hours after the announcement stunned crowds attended the cremation of the Nepalese royal family on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River.

A swift funeral is in keeping with Hindu tradition.

Thousands of emotional mourners lined the streets to watch as the bodies were taken through the streets of the capital, Katmandu.

The ceremony marked the beginning of 13 days of official mourning.

CNN's Kasra Naji who is in the city says many people there feel a growing sense of anger at the authorities that the royal family were not better protected.

He says many are also angry over the lack of official information about what happened inside the palace on that fateful Friday night.

Demonstrations have been held calling on the government to resign for not doing enough to protect the royal family.

Riot police backed up by troops have been deployed on the streets of the capital in an effort to maintain security.

God king

Birendra, 55, was widely revered in Nepalese society with many believing that the occupant of the throne is the reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

Many Nepalese are still reeling from the shock of Friday's massacre

He became Nepal's head of state in 1972 reigning for almost two decades as an absolute monarch. In 1990, he turned over government to a multi-party democracy that has since struggled with a fractured parliament, a failing economy and a long-running Maoist insurgency.

The shootings come at a time of major political instability.

Opposition parties have been demanding Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's resignation for the government's alleged role in a bribery scandal and for not tackling the insurgency.

Earlier this year a series of violent anti-government street protests brought much of Katmandu to a halt.

During Saturday's funeral chants of "Girija resign" could be heard from the crowd as rumors spread that the government might have been behind the shootings.