Bangladesh strike leaves one dead, several injured

Bangladesh strike leaves one dead, several injured
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

DHAKA, FEBRUARY 2: At least one person was killed and over 90 injured in bombings and clashes during a 36-hour anti-government strike from Wednesday, called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led four-party Opposition alliance.

The shutdown, due to end on Thursday evening, was called by the Opposition alliance to protest over the recent passage of an Anti-Crime Bill.

Under the Bill, the authorities can set up special tribunals to swiftly try people suspected of crimes including extortion, kidnapping, ransom and damaging vehicles.

A police official told PTI that one BNP activists was killed and three others were wounded when a bomb explosion rocked the third floor of the BNP office building at down town Naya Paltan area here.

The dead man has been identified as Mohammed Ismail, a BNP activist. Police said the bomb might have accidentally exploded and added the blast severely damaged doors and windows of the BNP office. The BNP leaders, however, alleged that the bombs were thrown by someoutsider to implicate the party activists.

Home-made bombs exploded intermittently in Chittagong but no casualties were reported in these incidents in the first few hours of the strike, Chittagong police said.

Police said nearly 100 people were injured on Tuesday in clashes between Opposition activists and police in northern towns of Rajshahi, Pabna and Mymensigh, and Feni in the southeast.

Four people were badly wounded in the other explosion, in a BNP office in Chittagong on Tuesday night.

Dhaka's streets were mostly empty except for rickshaws after the strike. The country's two stock exchanges, in Dhaka and Chittagong, were closed, officials said. Many offices and schools were shut, and a few banks which were open conducted no business.

In Chittagong, the country's main port, the strike disrupted handling and delivery of goods, officials said. One flight to Chittagong from Dhaka was cancelled but trains operated normally, transport officials said.