Kathmandu, Dec 7 : A five-year-old boy was killed by "tigers" in the capital city Kathmandu, police said Monday.

Vishal Lama, son of Badri Singh Lama, was killed in Chhaimale, a forested area in Kathmandu Saturday.

The boy, who lived in Devichaur in neighbouring Lalitpur city, had gone to Chhaimale to visit his maternal uncle, police said.

The World Wildlife Fund, however, said the predator was probably a leopard since tigers have been long extinct in Kathmandu valley.

Since October, at least seven more children, including a two-year-old toddler, have been killed and partially eaten by the big cats in central Nepal.

The WWF said that the rising encroachment on forest land by locals and scarcity of animal preys were driving leopards to raid human settlements in and around the capital for food.

This year, six children have been killed in Kavre district alone, close to Kathmandu.

In october, Nepal hosted the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop 2009, a four-day meet of international tiger experts and government officials to formulate strategic action to save the tiger from extinction.(IANS)