KATHMANDU The king and queen of Nepal have died in a palace massacre blamed on their son and heir, Crown Prince Dipendra, who was himself in a coma after the late Friday night shootings.

Nepal state radio said the Himalayan country's Privy Council had declared Dipendra the new king of Nepal, but since he was in a coma, had also appointed the late king's brother as regent.

It gave no details on the circumstances of the massacre, though Interior Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said earlier that the crown prince himself had shot and killed King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya and several other family members.

"He first shot the others, then shot himself," he told Reuters, adding that up to 11 people had been killed.

A Home Ministry spokesman said the world's only Hindu king would be cremated along with his wife later on Saturday, in keeping with a Hindu tradition of cremating the dead quickly.

In Kathmandu residents were stunned but calm, many of them unable to believe speculation that the 29-year-old Dipendra had shot his parents after a row over his choice of bride.

"The crown prince was bright, sensible and friendly," said Mana Ranjan Josse, a journalist who has written extensively about the royal family. "I find it incredible."

Tens of thousands of people were expected to join the king's funeral procession. The body was expected to be taken around the main parts of Nepal's temple-studded capital before being cremated on the bank of the holy Bagmati River.

State radio, which had been playing religious music for most of the morning, announced the death of the king and queen in a terse announcement which gave little away of the drama which left thousands of Nepalis confused and bewildered.

"The first son of his majesty the king and heir to the throne, Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, has been proclaimed the king in accordance with the law, custom and usage relating to the succession to the throne," state radio said.

"Since the new king is physically unable to exercise his duty and is undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the military hospital in Kathmandu, his uncle, Prince Gyanendra, has been proclaimed as the regent," it added.

Prince Gyanendra, who was out of town at the time of the Friday night killings, is the younger brother of King Birendra.

The late king, who ceded absolute power in 1990 in favor of a constitutional monarchy, was both popular and influential in Nepal, and prime ministers often counted on him for support.

The Nepalese have a tradition of respect for their monarchy and analysts said the king's violent death was likely to sow deep confusion in the country.

Many Nepalis also considered Birendra, a soft-spoken man with glasses and a moustache, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

Nepal, a landlocked country of some 22 million people, has been racked by a Maoist insurgency in recent years. It is one of the world's 10 poorest countries.

(Reuter)