By DPA
Kathmandu : Nepalese police Saturday shot dead three armed robbers, suspected to be Indian nationals, in the restive southern plains.
The robbers were killed in a shootout in the commercial city of Birgunj, about 90 km south of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, during the night after a police patrol came under fire, police said.
Police recovered pistols, homemade guns and ammunition after the shootout, in which there were no police casualties, Inspector K.B. Sharma said.
Police said they suspected all three to be Indian nationals, but had not identified the bodies.
Southern Nepal has seen a growing incidence of armed robberies by criminal groups operating along the border with India since early 2007 and the groups have been blamed for dozens of murders and robberies in Birgunj and surrounding areas.
Police say the problems have been made worse by the open border that allows criminals to slip across the border after committing a crime in Nepal.
Nepalese and Indian nationals do not need passport or visas to move across the border.
The groups often take advantage of political crises in the region, made worse by armed Nepalese insurgents, who want a separate autonomous state for the southern plains known as Terai.