Eight people were killed on Wednesday as violence pulverised Bangladesh on the second day of the Opposition-sponsored blockade.
Published : 28 Nov 2013, 12:33 AM
The nationwide blockade of road, rail and water transports were enforced on Tuesday in protest against the roadmap the Election Commission announced on Monday for the Jan 5 general elections.
On the first day, seven persons had died in violence. Apart from them, two were killed on Monday when the programme was announced.
The Opposition has extended its programme by another 23 hours to 5am on Friday.
Roads and railways were targeted on the second day of the blockade like the first day. Communications on the waterways have remained somewhat uninterrupted.
Reports of explosions and vandalism came in from far and wide of the country including Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal, Rajshahi, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Satkhira, Jessore, and Chandpur.
At least 200 people, including law-enforcing personnel and pedestrians were injured in clashes.
On the second day of the blockade, one died in Dhaka, two each in Chittagong, Sirajganj, and Satkhira, and another in Gazipur's Kaliganj.
In daylong clashes in Chittagong, two men were killed, two policemen were hit by bullets and a businessman received burn injuries.
Petrol bombs were hurled at the port city's election office around the evening. A youth died at Satkania after being hit by a stone hurled by blockade campaigners.
Activists of the BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami hacked to death Kaliganj Union Parishad member Kamal Hossain, 30, during a clash.
Ruling Awami League supporters had allegedly lynched a Jamaat activist in Satkhira. Two Awami League supporters were killed in the district in blockade-related violence on Tuesday.
A Jamaat activist was killed in a clash with police, RAB and BGB troopers at Sagardarhi in Satkhira.
In Sirajganj, two Jamaat activists -- Abdul Jalil, 55, and Masum Billah, 22 -- died from bullet injuries in clashes with supporters of the Awami League and police.