At least one person was killed and scores injured in attacks by the Jamaat-e-Islami activists who enforced a country-wide hartal on Wednesday to protest the death sentence handed over to one of their key leaders for crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.
Militant activists from Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir opened fire on police personnel in Satkania, Chittagong, badly injuring a policeman. They also reportedly attacked police camps and law enforcers on duty in several parts of the country.
A three-wheeler driver was killed when protesters threw stones at him in Noakhali.
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Jamaat-e-Islami had announced a 48-hour country-wide shutdown on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by its Assistant Secretary General and war-crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla and sentenced him to death. Mollah is known as “butcher of Mirpur” for his role in the 1971 war. He was responsible for genocide, mass rape, looting and abduction of unarmed civilians.
Major clashes took place in Satkhira, a Jamaat stronghold, in Chittagong and northern Rajshahi. In some areas, the fought running battles with police. Protesters vandalised vehicles, blocked highways and resorted to indiscriminate bomb blasts. Police fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse them. In Dhaka, the party supporters took out processions in some areas before police intervened.