Kathmandu - Nepali police said on Thursday they had arrested four people in connection with the death of an eight-year-old girl believed to have been killed in a human sacrifice.
The police said the child's throat had been slit and her body pierced with a sharp weapon. Local media reported that her blood had been found inside a brick kiln along with religious offerings of money and food.
"The circumstances of the killing in early December suggest the girl was sacrificed," said local police official Narhari Adhikari, speaking from the district of Rupandehi in the south of Nepal.
"We have arrested four people including the owner of the brick kiln on charges of murder.
"Two of those arrested confessed they killed the girl as an offering to the gods to bring good fortune to the business."
Mainly Hindu Nepal is deeply traditional, and religious rituals are a part of everyday life in the impoverished country. Around 80 percent of the 27 million-strong population are Hindu.
Nepal outlawed human sacrifices in 1780 but experts say it is still practised by some communities in poor rural areas.
"Some people still believe sacrificing human beings will appease the gods, improve their fortunes and raise their social status," said Chunda Bajracharya, professor of cultural studies at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University.
"Such beliefs are the outcome of extreme ignorance," she said. - Sapa-AFP