
At least two people were killed and 50 wounded in clashes between protesters wielding homemade weapons and the police.

Since protests began last month, 76 people have been killed and more than 800 wounded, according to a preliminary report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, submitted before Wednesday's clashes.

Initially triggered by now-aborted reforms to the near-bankrupt social security system, the unrest broadened into a rejection by many Nicaraguans of President Daniel Ortega, who is seen as autocratic.

Demonstrators pose for a photo during a protest against President Daniel Ortega's government in Leon, Nicaragua

A demonstrator aims a home-made mortar during the demonstrations, which began last month in the central American countty

A masked protester stands in front of a wall built across the road as a tyre burns in the background

The latest clashes broke out late Wednesday between opposition demonstrators and pro-government groups, with the worst occurring in Leon, northwest of the capital Managua.

A 31-year-old man, Manuel Chevez, was shot dead when government-linked groups tried to evict students and residents from a barricade on the main road to Leon, the man's aunt Justa Ramirez said.

A second man, identified as Luis Diaz and belonging to the pro-government group, was allegedly struck by a homemade mortar bomb, said local Red Cross director Marcio Ocon.

During the clashes, which lasted about five hours, 54 people were wounded by a mixture of gunfire, rubber bullets and blunt instruments, according to the Red Cross.

Chevez's aunt said he had been shot by a rifle. 'He was shot with an AK, because it is a shot from an AK that he has on his forehead,' she said.

Clashes also occurred in other Nicaraguan cities.

The words on the homemade mortar read: 'We are moved by a single flag.' The protests were triggered by attempts to reform the social security system

Demonstrators block the Pan-American highway during the protest in Leon, where two people died

One protesters mortar is adorned with the word 'Long live students'. Clashes in Leon lasted about five hours

The unrest came after the week-long church-mediated talks between the government and opposition forces to quell a month of violence broke down late on Wednesday.

'Since there was no consensus today between the parties, we in the bishops' conference regrettably are shutting down the... national dialogue,' church officials said after eight fruitless hours of mediation at a Managua seminary.

The biggest major stumbling block is the government's rejection of early elections.

'That would be dismantling constitutional order and the democratically elected government,' Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said.

Moncada reaffirmed the government's readiness to dialogue, saying it is 'essential to resolve and agree on the elimination of all the barriers' on the roads, to avoid 'violence in all its forms and to guarantee the right to work.'

The leader of the opposition Broad Front for Democracy, Violeta Granera, said the dialogue had given her 'a level of hope' to find a solution to the crisis.

A masked anti-government protester with a slingshot across his head in Leon

A demonstrator hangs onto the side of a truck during the protests.

A protester fires a round out of his homemade mortar, sending sparks flying out of the end

Demonstrators set up a barricade after talks mediated by the Catholic church and the opposition collapsed

'Now what we have left is to not let ourselves be unfocused and to be bolder, more creative and stronger with the protests.'

Ortega 'wants time to win with impunity... It is already clear that his days in power are numbered,' she said.

Ortega, a former Sandinista guerrilla who first ruled between 1979 and 1990 before returning as president 11 years ago, had kept power by maintaining leftist rhetoric while ensuring an accommodation with powerful private industry and keeping up trade with the United States.

Demonstrators have voiced frustrations over corruption, the autocratic style of Ortega and Murillo, limited options to change the country's politics in elections, and the president's control over Congress, the courts, the military and the electoral