Latest Dhaka Stories

By Anis Ahmed DHAKA (Reuters) - At least 200 people were hurt in street clashes between Bangladesh opposition workers and police while the activists trying to stage a blockade of the capital, Dhaka, on Sunday, witnesses said. Rock-throwing protesters fought riot police at Kanchpur on the outskirt of Dhaka, in which at least 70 people, including former army chief general K.M. Shafiullah, were injured. Police, who retaliated with tear gas and baton charges, detained nearly 50 people at...

By Anis Ahmed DHAKA (Reuters) - More than 150 Bangladesh opposition leaders and activists were injured in fierce battles with police while trying to stage a blockade of the capital, Dhaka, on Sunday, witnesses said. Rock-throwing protesters fought steel-helmeted riot police at Kanchpur on the outskirt of Dhaka, in which at least 70 people, including former army chief general K.M. Shafiullah, were injured. Police, who retaliated with tear gas and baton charges, also detained nearly 50...

DHAKA (Reuters) - More than 100 Bangladesh opposition leaders and activists were injured in fierce battles with police while trying to stage a blockade of the capital, Dhaka, on Sunday, witnesses said. Rock-throwing protesters fought steel-helmeted riot police at Kanchpur on the outskirt of Dhaka, in which at least 70 people, including former army chief general K.M. Shafiullah, were injured. Police, who retaliated with tear gas and baton charges, also detained nearly 50 people at...

BHOLA, Bangladesh (Reuters) - At least 50 people were injured in southern Bangladesh on Wednesday in clashes between police and opposition activists protesting against lack of electricity, police and witnesses said. Police used batons and fired blank shots as members of the main opposition Awami League tried to storm the office of the state-run electricity utility in the town of Bhola, 320 km (200 miles) from the capital Dhaka. Three policemen were among those injured in the clashes,...

DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced seven top Islamist militants to death for killing two judges in a bomb attack in southern Jhalakati town in November last year. "They will be hanged until death," Judge Reza Tarik Ahmed said in his verdict. The seven included chiefs of two outlawed groups -- Shayek Abdur Rahman of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen and Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh. "I pronounce this highest penalty as involvement of the...

By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Heavy rain sweeping across Bangladesh over the past two days has raised hopes for an early monsoon that weather experts say will boost agriculture. "The country is ready to welcome the monsoon about two weeks before the usual start in the middle of June," said a meteorologist in Cox's Bazar resort town on Sunday. The resort on the Bay of Bengal and nearby areas in southeastern Bangladesh recorded 350 mm (14 inches) of rain since Friday, he said....

DHAKA (Reuters) - Heavy rain sweeping across Bangladesh over the past two days has raised hopes for an early monsoon that weather experts say will boost agriculture. "The country is ready to welcome the monsoon about two weeks before the usual start in the middle of June," said a meteorologist in Cox's Bazar resort town on Sunday. The resort on the Bay of Bengal and nearby areas in southeastern Bangladesh recorded 350 mm (14 inches) of rain since Friday, he said. Neighbouring India's...

DHAKA (Reuters) - Indian border guards shot dead two Bangladeshis on Saturday along the country's northern Dinajpur frontier, taking the number of Bangladeshis killed in such incidents in the past week to eight, security officials said. They said that, as in previous incidents, Indian Border Security Force troops had taken the two bodies into Indian territory. "We have asked them to return the bodies but have had no response," said a Bangladesh Rifles border guard officer. He said...

DHAKA (Reuters) - Paramilitary troops and an elite rapid action unit were deployed at garment factories around Dhaka on Friday to increase security after one person was killed and nearly 150 injured in violent protests earlier this week. Most of the nearly 300 garment factories vandalized during the violence, triggered by pay disputes, have resumed production but at least half a dozen factories torched in the protests were still shut, textile industry officials said. The attacks...

DHAKA (Reuters) - A gunfight triggered by "teasing" of a woman student in Bangladesh has killed one student, wounded 15 and forced the closure of a university, police said on Sunday. The fighting was sparked by an incident on Friday when young men from Shahjalal Science and Technology University in the northeastern town of Sylhet "taunted and made vulgar comments at a girl," a police officer said. The woman was from a private medical college. Her friends protested and demanded the...