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| Southeast Asia |
| Bangladesh opposition calls strike over 'mass killing' |
| 2013-05-07 |
| Bangladeshi opposition parties have called a two-day nationwide shutdown from Wednesday to protest what they describe as the "mass killing" of Islamists in a crackdown by security forces. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies called the strike after saying that hundreds of people died on Sunday and early Monday, when police broke up a mass rally in central Dhaka. According to an AFP tally compiled after talking to police and medical sources, 38 people are known to have been killed since Sunday afternoon when police first confronted Islamist activists who had blockaded the capital. The Islamists are trying to pressure the government into introducing a new blasphemy law and have been calling for the execution of bloggers whom they accuse of having insulted the Prophet Mohammed. A border guard succumbed to his head injuries Tuesday to raise the tally from Monday's 37, police inspector Mozammel Haq told AFP, adding dozens were still being treated in hospital. |
| Posted by:tipper |