DHAKA, 21 August 2005 — A nationwide strike backed by the main opposition party to protest Wednesday’s serial bombings badly affected normal life in Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia cut short a visit to China and returned home late Friday because of the coordinated blasts which killed two people and injured 100 others.
The strike sparked clashes between police and opposition activists in central Dhaka leaving nearly 65 people injured, witnesses said.
Demonstrators staged marches in the capital and other cities, shouting, “Catch the bombers, the government has failed!” Dhaka police chief Mizanur Rahman said eight marchers had been briefly detained but no serious disturbances were reported.
“We’ve tightened security. There are more than 9,000 troops on guard in Dhaka,” the country’s Inspector General of Police Abdul Kaiyum said, adding the situation was calm.
The strike was called by the opposition Awami League and its partners, who have been waging an intense campaign to oust the Islamist-allied coalition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The opposition accuses the government of failing to crack down on extremism, corruption and crime.
On Saturday, a working day in Bangladesh, streets of the normally congested capital were virtually deserted, with only rickshaws and a few three-wheel taxis and buses on the roads.
Most schools and businesses were shut and deliveries were halted to the port in Chittagong, but trains moved on schedule.
Security was stepped up to prevent any violence during the strike as police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion kept up a large-scale hunt for the bombers and their alleged leader, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, who shook the country with 434 small blasts Wednesday.
Government spokesman Shahenur Mia, who gave the updated figure for the blasts, said 51 more unexploded bombs were recovered.
He said 123 people had so far been arrested over the blasts which occurred with the space of one hour in all but one of the country’s cities and towns.
Of the suspects, 26 were being interrogated in a central unit in the capital.
Police said they had arrested a number of people who had planted bombs. Kaiyum said some had told interrogators they belonged to the outlawed Jamayetul Mujahedeen.
“We’re trying to learn the extent of their operation, how powerful this group is, and whether any other group was linked to the bombings,” Kaiyum said.
Jamayetul Mujahedeen was banned in February. Leaflets bearing the group’s name and calling for the introduction of Islamic law were found at all the blast sites.
While police name the group as the prime suspect, they say it is too early to conclude it was responsible for the blasts. No one has claimed responsibility.
A number of those arrested were students and teachers from madrasas, a security official said.
Khaleda’s government has previously said Bangladesh does not have a problem with extremists despite concern voiced by the opposition, neighboring India and foreign government officials.
But after the blasts, the media urged the government to heed the threat of militancy.
“These attacks should shatter once and for all the government’s dishonest posturing that there is no problem with religious extremism in the country,” said Dhaka’s main English-language newspaper the Daily Star. “We cannot afford to waste another moment.”
Meanwhile, two suspected rebels were killed yesterday when a bomb they were making exploded in western Bangladesh.
The explosion occurred late Friday in an abandoned house in Kushtia district, 128 km west of Dhaka, local police officer Awlad Hossain said.
