Bangladesh clashes leave over 100 hurt

More than 100 people were injured in clashes in Bangladesh yesterday during a second strike in less than a week called by the country's main opposition party to protest at a grenade attack that nearly killed its leader.

The dawn-to-dusk strike called by the Awami League shut shops, schools and businesses across the turbulent Muslim-majority democracy.

A week ago, at least seven grenades were thrown at a crowded rally that opposition leader and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was addressing in the capital, Dhaka. Nineteen people were killed and more than 150 wounded in blasts.

Hasina's Awami League launched a wave of strikes and marches to protest against the blasts and the coalition government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Khaleda and Hasina are bitter rivals who have not spoken for 14 years.

The worst violence erupted yesterday in Dhunat, a small town northwest of Dhaka, where police fired blanks to disperse clashing groups of Awami League and ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists.

At least 30 people were hurt, including a policeman.

Another 30 people were injured in clashes in Birganj, some 420 km northwest of Dhaka. Elsewhere, some 40 other people were injured.

Police said more than 200 people were detained.

Officials say the police did not obstruct peaceful protests and acted only when they turned violent.

More than 330 people have been injured in the opposition protests over the past week, which also included strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After yesterday's strike ended, traffic started trickling back onto Dhaka's streets which were almost deserted earlier.

The capital, which witnessed several small protests, was mostly peaceful with just three people being slightly injured when small explosives were thrown into a bus.

Analysts say while the campaign poses no immediate threat to the government, political tension will stay high.

And business leaders say strikes cost the impoverished country more than $60 million a day in lost production. Cargo handling was suspended in the country's main port in Chittagong in the south.

The Awami League and Hasina say militants close to Islamic parties in Khaleda's ruling coalition were behind the attack on yesterday week's rally.

Khaleda's BNP has rejected the allegations, condemned the blasts and vowed to hunt down those responsible.

Faced with domestic anger and international concern after a series of bombings in recent years, the government has not ruled out a foreign hand in the attack.

Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan said a two-member Interpol team would arrive in Dhaka today to help authorities investigate the attack.

Dhaka asked for the help, saying its security agencies did not have the expertise to probe such a serious incident.

Separately, police said intelligence officials were questioning a man - possibly a university student - in connection with a death threat against Hasina sent by e-mail to a newspaper. They gave no further details.

Bangladesh has been hit by a series of mysterious bombings since 2000 which have killed more than 100 people and wounded more than 500.

The government has been unable to bring any of the bombers to justice or identify those behind the blasts.