The number of people killed recently in restive southern Nepal rose to eight Monday after two protesters wounded when police opened fire on a crowd died at a hospital, officials said.

One of the demonstrators died late Sunday and the other Monday morning from gunshot wounds sustained Sunday at Kalaiya, a town about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital Katmandu.

Officers also fired their weapons Saturday after a crowd charged a police station in Kalaiya, killing one demonstrator and wounding several others. The death toll from violent protests that began Jan. 19 now stands at eight.

Violence has spread in the south and southeast, crippling daily life in the area. The clashes forced authorities to impose daily curfews in most major towns.

The chief government administrator in the Bara area, Bhola Siwakoti, said new curfews were imposed in three major towns on Monday to prevent further bloodshed.

Siwakoti said the situation on the ground was better Monday compared to previous days.

Trouble began when protests in Lahan _ a town about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Katmandu _ ended with one person killed.

Demonstrators from Nepal's southern plains say they have long been left out of government development and policy-making decisions. Such policies have focused more on people living in the Himalayan mountains to the north, they say.

Protests have been organized by the Tarai People's Rights Forum, a group that says it is working for the rights of the people in Nepal's southern plains.