Three small bombs exploded in Bangladesh’s capital on Sunday as police clashed with protesters during a nationwide strike called by opposition parties that brought the country to a halt. The low-intensity explosions went off near the headquarters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and in a northern suburb of the capital, leaving two people injured, police said.
“These are small bombs. One police sub-inspector has been injured in one of the blasts,” said Dhaka’s deputy police commissioner Anwar Hossain, adding at least 40 people were arrested on charges of violence on Sunday. Police, who baton-charged supporters of the BNP and its Islamist allies outside the capital Dhaka, did not give any injury toll for the day’s clashes but local media put the figure between 40 and 100.
At least 8,000 police and 1,500 paramilitary forces succeeded in mostly keeping the peace in Dhaka on Sunday, where security was tightened after overnight violence overnight saw a dozen buses torched and 40 people arrested.
