Kathmandu, Jan. 30 (AP): Fresh clashes broke out in an industrial city in Nepal's troubled southeast on Tuesday that left one person dead and several injured, officials said.

Authorities imposed a curfew in Biratnagar, Nepal's second-largest city, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of the capital of Katmandu. Police were struggling to bring the situation under control, said Modhraj Dotel, the area's chief government official.

Curfews were also imposed in three other towns to prevent bloodshed, according to the chief government administrator in the Bara area, Bhola Siwakoti.

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

Protests and violence _ which erupted on Jan. 19 _ have largely crippled daily life in Nepal's south and southeast, leaving at least nine people dead. Police have fired on protesters, beat them with batons and imposed curfews to break up demonstrations.

Meanwhile, three former ministers during King Gyanendra's authoritarian rule were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to encourage violence in the south, an official said Tuesday.

Home Ministry official Umesh Mainali confirmed the arrests and said the three former ministers _ Kamal Thapa, Badri Prasad Mandal, Salim Miya Ansari _ were being questioned by police.

Mainali wouldn't comment on the evidence that led to the arrests late Monday and early Tuesday.

Weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations last year forced Gyanendra to give up his rule. Since then, the king has been stripped of his powers, has rarely made public appearances, and is waiting for a special assembly to decide whether the monarchy will be abolished altogether. Thapa has been accused of giving orders to crush last year's demonstrations, in which several people died.