At least 14 people were killed and about 1,000 injured, many with bullets, in clashes between the activists of the outgoing ruling alliance and the opposition and in police firing in Dhaka and elsewhere on Saturday.
Rival activists clashed with each other with the handover of power from the ruling alliance to the caretaker government drawing near.
Four were killed on Friday. A BNP leader was killed in Brahmanbaria, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader in Gazipur and a government employee in Dhaka. Another, injured in clashes at Dhamrai Thursday night, died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Friday.
Five people were killed in Dhaka on Saturday — a union council chairman along with his brother in Narsingdi, one each in Chittagong, Kurigram, Bagerhat, Kushtia and Moulvibazar in political clashes. Another died in police firing in Meherpur.
The death toll may increase as many of the injured admitted to hospital were in a critical condition, hospital and party sources said.
Road communications between Dhaka and other areas remained snapped. Shops and business establishments were closed. Streets in towns and cities were deserted.
Gulistan, Paltan and Baitul Mukarram in downtown Dhaka, and Jatrabari, Mirpur, Pallabi, Shahbagh, Dhaka University campus and other areas turned into battlefields as the opposition, Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP and the police clashed almost all day long. The Paltan crossing turned into a battlefield at noon and continued to remain so inside the evening where a series of clashes took place between the Awami League and Jamaat activists. Policemen stood bystanders in most places.
