Five shot dead in new deadly clashes in BD

DHAKA: At least five people were shot dead as police clashed with Islamist demonstrators in Bangladesh on Saturday, a day after clashes between police and hardline Islamist protesters against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left another five dead.

The violence, which began on Friday at the main mosque in the capital Dhaka, rocked several key districts in the Muslim-majority nation of 168 million.

Following Friday’s fatal shootings, five more people were shot dead in new clashes in the eastern border district of Brahmanbaria, two doctors told AFP on Saturday, as police clashed with villagers and supporters of the hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam.

"Three were brought dead. Two died in the hospital. All five have gun-shot wounds," Abdullah al Mamun, a doctor at the emergency ward of Brahmanbaria 25-bed state-run hospital, told AFP.

Brahmanbaria police refused to comment on the deaths, though two officers said Islamists had staged protests in several places in the district Saturday.

A journalist in Brahmanbaria said some 3,000 protesters including Hefazat supporters and Muslim villagers demonstrated in the district, while a doctor said protesters torched several government offices during the clashes.