Fresh violence erupted across Bangladesh on Monday, leaving at least four people dead as rival party activists clashed on the second day of a strike amid a mounting political crisis. Police said street battles broke out throughout Bangladesh between thousands of supporters of the ruling party and the opposition, which is demanding the prime minister quit and make way for elections under a caretaker government.
A bomb blast in the western Harina Kundu town killed a local opposition official, while elsewhere two activists were killed in separate clashes and a truck driver died after being pelted with bricks, police said. "Apparently the bomb was hurled, targeting him (the local official). He died on his way to the hospital," local police chief Mohibul Islam told AFP.
At least 16 people in total have now died in the unrest that has escalated since Friday, when the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies staged mass rallies over arrangements for the elections. Television footage on Monday showed protesters barricading highways, exploding crude bombs and attacking political party offices in dozens of towns, with police responding in some cases with tear gas and rubber bullets. Schools, shops and other businesses remained closed on Monday.
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