At least nine people were killed and four injured after landslides hit three districts in western Nepal, officials said Friday.

The landslides followed heavy monsoonal rains since Thursday night.

The Nepalese government has formally asked the United Nations to extend the term of its peace mission to the Himalayan nation by another six months, media reports said Thursday.

The request came two weeks before the term of the United Nations Mission in Nepal is due expire on July 23.

Nepal's former Maoist rebels say they intend to form a new government despite the collapse of their coalition barely a month ago, media reports said Wednesday.

Hundreds of Maoist supporters clashed with police in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Wednesday, protesting the president's decision to reinstate a sacked army chief.

The renewed protests came as political parties intensified their efforts to form a new government following the collapse of the Maoist-led coalition over the affair.

"We are talking with other political parties and want to form a government of national consensus," said Jhalanath Khanal, the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninists.

The United Nations' high commissioner for human rights said Sunday that she has asked the Nepalese government for an extension of term for the UN human rights office in Nepal.

Navanethem Pillay said she asked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to extend the terms of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights-Nepal by another three years after the current term expires in June.

Kathmandu - At least five people were killed by wildfires in western Nepal believed to have been deliberately started by poachers, police said Monday.

Five people, including four members of the same family, were burnt alive when they were trapped by raging forest fires on Saturday in Myagdi district, about 250 kilometres west of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

The five had entered a forest near the village of Gaganpani to collect firewood when the fire engulfed them, police said.

Nepalese authorities Saturday confirmed the second outbreak of bird flu in the eastern part of the country.

The new cases of the deadly strain of H5N1 virus were discovered after 149 chickens died at a poultry farm in Saranamati village of Jhapa district, about 450 kilometres east of Kathmandu, government officials said.

Officials sent samples of the dead fowl to England for tests.

Nepalese consumers have been hard hit by the high inflation rate which rose above 14 per cent, Nepal's central bank said Saturday.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said the year-on-year consumer inflation rose to 14.4 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal year which began in mid-July.

The current inflation rate is nearly three times higher than during the corresponding period last year, the bank said.