Death toll in Nepal’s anti-graft protests jumps to 72

KATHMANDU: The death toll from last week’s anti-corruption protests in Nepal has risen to 72, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday, as search teams continued to recover bodies from shopping malls and other buildings damaged in the unrest.

“Bodies of many people who died in shopping malls, houses and other buildings that were set on fire or attacked are now being discovered,” health ministry spokesperson Prakash Budathoki said.

The ministry’s latest updated data showed at least 2,113 people were injured in Nepal’s worst unrest in decades.

Many government buildings, the country’s supreme court, parliament building, police posts, businesses as well as politicians’ private houses including that of President Ramchandra Paudel and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli were set on fire.

Oli, who resigned last week, has been replaced by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister tasked with holding new parliamentary elections which has been called for March 5.