Off the wire
• Urgent: Suicide bomber kills three in Nigeria  • Russian airline to operate Moscow-Malta flight  • Sri Lanka reiterates importance of its ties with China  • Turkish PM welcomes call by PKK leader for disarmament  • Turkish court issues detention warrant for 28 police over illegal wiretapping  • African wildlife agency lauds China's ban on ivory imports  • Putin pledges to do everything to bring Nemtsov killers to justice  • Indian troops kill 2 militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir gunfight  • Cambodian ruling, opposition leaders finalize new draft election law  • Vietnamese deputy PM asks for absolute security for IPU-132  
You are here: 　 Home

Violence flares ahead of Bangladesh opposition's 72-hour strike

Xinhua, March 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Stray incidents of violence are flaring up in parts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, as ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's opposition alliance is all set to enforce another round of strike from Sunday morning.

A Dhaka Metropolitan (DMP) official who preferred to be unnamed said miscreants torched at least eight vehicles at different parts of Dhaka and Narayanganj town on the outskirts of capital city.

Vandalism, explosion of hand bombs and detention of dozens of opposition men have also been reported in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country since Sunday morning.

Dozens of vehicles were smashed or set on fire also elsewhere in the country on the eve of the strike on Saturday.

No one was reported injured in the incidents.

Demanding fresh election under a non-party caretaker government system, Bangladesh's main opposition alliance on Friday called another round of nationwide strike form Sunday morning.

The strike will start at 6:00 a.m. local time Sunday and will continue till 6:00 a.m. local time Wednesday, said two-time ex- Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Spokesperson Salahuddin Ahmed in a statement on Friday.

The strike announcement came just a day after it observed a five-day countrywide strike from Feb. 22 morning amid violent clashes, vandalism, arson and crude bomb attacks.

BNP and its allies has declared the 72-hour road, rail and waterway strike from Sunday morning amid its ongoing blockade campaign that entered 46th day on Friday. Endi