KATHMANDU, NEPAL: A female journalist who wrote about women's rights and criticised political leaders was stabbed to death in the city of Janakpur in southern Nepal.

The region where Ms Uma Singh (above) was murdered, the Terai plains, has seen sporadic violence since 2006, when the Maoists ended their civil war before winning elections last year.

'Uma Singh was attacked by around 15 armed people who stormed into her rented apartment on Sunday evening and stabbed her,' said an official from Sarlahi, 90km south-east of Kathmandu.

The authorities said the culprits hacked at Ms Singh with kukris - curved knives traditional to Nepal - in full view of other boarders. Four people have been arrested.

Ms Singh, 24, worked for a local newspaper and radio station. Her editor believes that people angered by her coverage could have been responsible for her death.

'Recently, she wrote articles criticising the dowry system, and she has also written about the involvement of political leaders in the ongoing Terai unrest,' said Janakpur Today editor Brij Kumar Yadav.

Businesses and public transportation in Janakpur were shut down for two days to protest against the murder. 'This brutal killing shows that journalists in Nepal face tremendous threats,' said Ms Singh's editor.

Four other journalists have been killed in Nepal since 2007, according to the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE