Four killed in Bangladesh strike

At least four people were killed and 50 others injured as police clashed with a mob trying to gain access to a mosque in the Bangladesh capital during a half-day general strike yesterday.

The main opposition party Awami League (AL) called the strike demanding execution of the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding father.

All the victims died during the clash as police opened fire on a stone-throwing mob at Malibagh in downtown Dhaka, a press photographer said.

"The victims died of bullet wounds and 20 others are getting treatment for different injuries," a doctor at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said.

Access to the mosque had been blocked by the Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board (BTTB), which had closed an access road that crossed its land.

The clash occurred as police tried to prevent the mob from forcing its way to the mosque for evening prayers.

"Police opened fire in self defence.... We have no more details at the moment," a police officer at Ramna Police Station of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said.

The awami League also observed the day as national mourning day marking the death anniversary of Sheikh Mujib, who along with most of his family members was killed in an army coup on August 15, 1975.

Mujib's wife and three sons were among those killed in the coup. His two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were abroad then.

Despite a government ban, the Awami League flew the national flag at half mast yesterday, but the police did not intervene.

Protesters hurled stones and bricks at the police, who threw some of them back, witnesses said.

At least 50 people were injured, and three of them were taken to hospital, they said.

Street marches were on Wednesday banned by the police until further notice in the "interest of public safety."

The injured also include several policemen and a journalist, who were given first aid treatment. The clash took place in front of the AL central office where the protesters gathered to lay wreaths under the portraits of Mujib.

Thousands of people wearing black badges thronged to place wreaths at Dhaka's Banani graveyard, where members of Sheikh Mujibur's family are buried. He was buried in his home village of Tungipara.

There were similar scenes at Sheikh Mujibur's former residence where he was killed and which is now a museum, in the Dhanmandi area of Dhaka.

During the six-hour general strike, streets in Dhaka were largely devoid of transport, but three-wheeled rickshaws and security vans carrying armed policemen moved around.

Many offices remained closed as a result of the strike.

Delivery of goods from the Chittagong port was disrupted because lorries did not operate, port officials said.

National mourning day, marking the assassination of the independence leader, was last observed during the previous caretaker government.

The AL and its front organisations and different socio-cultural bodies arranged 'Milad Mahfil' in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

A weeping Sheikh Hasina visited the graveyard and the museum, where she prayed alone at the stairs where her father was killed and laid a wreath in front of his portrait.

Her only comment to reporters was: "I am not in a position to speak to you today."

Khaleda Zia replaced Sheikh Hasina as prime minister in October 2001 and the two women are bitter rivals.

The Awami League had vowed to defy the ban on displaying the flag at half-mast "at any cost". It said the ban was aimed at insulting Sheikh Mujibur's memory.