4 killed in Bangladesh violence

Dhaka, May 5: Violence gripped the Bangladeshi capital on Sunday as thousands of Islamists chanting "Allahu Akbar" and demanding a tougher blasphemy law set ablaze 100 shops and clashed with the police leaving at least four people dead and 80 others injured.

The newly-floated Hefazat-e-Islam or "Protectorate of Islam" enforced their "Dhaka siege" programme to mount pressure on the secular Awami League-led government to implement their 13-point demand, including the enactment of a blasphemy law to punish those who insult Islam and the Prophet.

At least 15 crude bombs exploded in front of the ruling Awami League's headquarters at the Bangabandhu Avenue when several Hifazat processions were heading towards Motijheel to join the group's rally.

Jamaat-Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, activists joined by Hefazat-e-Islam men set fire to at least 100 shops and business establishments, looted shops at Baitul Mukarram mosque complex and torched over 30 government buses in the capital.

During the clash, the activists of Hefazat-e-Islam and Shibir blasted several hundred homemade cocktails.

The Islamists marched down at least six highways and took position at the entry points of the city, stopping road transport and cutting off Dhaka's road links with rest of the country while raising slogans of "Allah-u-Akbar!" (God is great!) and "One point, One demand: Atheists must be hanged".