Bangladesh riots claim 14 lives, army deployed

Army personnel were deployed in Bangladesh's northwestern Bogra district Sunday morning as thousands of pro-hartal picket fought pitched battles with the law enforcers in the fourth day of riots erupted since an Islamist opposition leader was sentenced to death for war crimes.

A senior police official from Bogra, some 197 km northwest of capital Dhaka, confirmed the deployment of military personnel, first time since the countrywide deadly riots erupted Thursday.

Pro-Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party television DIGANTA reported Sunday "Seven people were killed and about 200 others sustained bullet injuries."

But the official confirmed the deaths of three people in the mayhem. "Entire situation has gone beyond our control after thousands of pro-hartal pickets attacked the Shahjahanpur police station," said the female police official but preferred to be unnamed.

Local authorities slapped restriction on public gathering in Bogra until further order, said the police official. The clashes erupted when hundreds of activists of Jamaat reportedly attacked offices of ruling Bangladesh Awami League party and the sub-district's administration during the early hours of hartal.

Also on Sunday, six more deaths have been reported in Rajshahi, some 256 km northwest of capital Dhaka, as Jamaat men fought pitched battle with the law enforcers. Rajshahi's deaths have not been confirmed by police.

Apart from this, a truck crushed a Jamaat leader Sunday in Gazipur, 37 km north of capital Dhaka during picketing. At least five people were shot dead and hundreds of others including police personnel injured in Bangladesh on Saturday.

The ongoing riots erupted soon after the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 pronounced the verdict Thursday afternoon on a crime against humanity case, giving death sentence to the vice president of Jamaat, Delawar Hossain Sayedee, who is believed to be the second most important leader of the party.

Dhaka (Xinhua)