DHAKA: Ten more people were killed in Bangladesh Sunday after the execution of a top Islamist leader sparked riots and other protests, as the prime minister warned of a crackdown on the violence.
Police said they opened fire after Islamist supporters torched houses and fought street battles with officers during a third day of unrest over the hanging of Abdul Quader Molla for mass murder during the 1971 war of independence.
Three people were killed Sunday in the northern town of Patgram and another seven died elsewhere overnight, police said, as Islamist supporters enforced a nationwide strike over the execution of Molla, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.
“Police fired rifles after Jamaat protesters torched at least 20 houses belonging to ruling party supporters,” government administrator Habibur Rahman told AFP of the violence in Patgram.
“We have banned protests and gatherings in the area to prevent further violence,” he added.
Molla's execution on Thursday night triggered fresh violence in the impoverished country, already reeling from political unrest in the build-up to a deeply divisive national election scheduled for January 5.
Twenty-two people are now known to have died and dozens more have been injured in the clashes since Thursday between outraged Jamaat activists and police and between the activists and supporters of the ruling Awami League (AL).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned of strong action against the rioters, saying “We have shown enough patience. We will not tolerate anymore.”
”People of the country know how to reply to these atrocities (the latest violence), we (government) also know how to respond to, control you (the rioters),” she told a rally late on Saturday to commemorate those killed in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Molla, 65, became the first person to be executed for his role in that war.
Jamaat called the hanging a “political murder” and said it would avenge it.
Authorities said he was tried and convicted according to law.
Bangladesh claims Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators including Mollah, killed at least 3 million people and raped 200,000 women during the nine-month war against Pakistan.
On Sunday, thousands of businessmen lined up the streets of Dhaka, the capital, and other major cities calling for peace and shunning violence.
They carried white flags symbolising reconciliation. Many of their businesses suffered because of a string of general strikes and blockades enforced by the opposition in recent months.
While Jamaat-e-Islami protested the execution, many among the 160 million Bangladeshis have praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for trying and executing Mollah.
Opposition parties are also protesting the government's decision to move ahead with Jan 5 elections.
The opposition wants the government to resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee the vote.
Hasina has vowed to continue the trials of the war crimes suspects and push ahead with the elections despite calls from opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to resign.
Mollah's party is a key ally of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Most of those being tried for war crimes are connected to the country's opposition.
Jamaat-e-Islami is barred from taking part in next month's national elections.