After political parties declared economic war on King Gyanendra with food and fuel shortages biting, the government took action and the information minister warned of a further crackdown.

"The army has been deployed to escort the trucks carrying food into Kathmandu from Sunday," home ministry Gopendra Pandey told AFP.

"Some trucks have already arrived in the capital," he said.

Drivers were offered a bonus if they were prepared to break the general strike, said Dhurva Kumar Sharma, spokesman at the ministry of labour and transport management.

"We are providing 48 dollars per driver and 21 dollars for drivers' helpers for ferrying food into the capital," said Sharma.

Prices for fresh food have rocketed in the capital as trucks delivering goods had been unable to enter the Kathmandu valley, home to some 1.7 million people.

Security forces shot the man in southern Nepal, the fifth death since widespread protests hit the country two weeks ago, a district official said.

"We have received reports that one protester died while being rushed to the hospital after security forces opened fire at an anti-royal demonstration," said an official from the Bara district, on condition of anonymity.

Late Sunday, an alliance of seven major political parties called on citizens to halt tax and utility bill payments and avoid patronising businesses run by the royal family, ahead of a mass protest in Kathmandu set for Thursday.

The parties also urged countries to stop all aid to the kingdom and Nepalis working overseas to delay sending money home to their families -- a vital source of income in a country where annual per capita income is 240 dollars.

The information minister offered no hint of a compromise.

"There will come a time when the security situation will become untenable and we have our legal options," Shrish Shamshere Rana told AFP.

One option would be to call a state of emergency, Rana said, that would "suspend some rights of the people."

He said the government believed the protests were aided by Maoist rebels who have waged a decade-long insurgency to topple the monarchy.

"This is not a democracy movement, this is a movement clearly to capture government," the minister said.

The parties aim to suffocate the economy, already reeling from non-stop strikes and protests and the insurgency, and thereby to force the king to restore democracy after 14 months of absolute rule.

Private banks were closed Monday and a petrol and kerosene shortage loomed.

"I haven't been riding my motorcycle but wanted to fill up because I heard there was a shortage," said Ravi Sharma, a 19-year-old student waiting in a long line at a petrol station in Kathmandu.

The national oil company said it had sufficient supplies but that transport was difficult.

"We have adequate stocks of petroleum products but because of the strike most of the petrol pumps are shut, thus creating an artifical shortage," said an official from the Nepal Oil Corporation.

He added, however, that fuel consumption had also dropped drastically as very few vehicles are on the streets.

Doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists and many other civil society groups are supporting the strike monitored by party activists. Most shops in the capital remained shut Monday while few vehicles travelled the streets.