10 killed in B'desh violence after Jamaat leader's hanging

The death toll in violence across Bangladesh triggered by the execution of a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader on Saturday rose to 10, even as Islamists set afire the house of a federal minister in the country's northwest.

Abdul Quader Mollah, known as the "Butcher of Mirpur" for atrocities committed during Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war, was hanged on Thursday night after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition. He was the first politician to be put to death for war crimes.

Violence erupted at several places soon after his execution, which the Jamaat described as a "political murder" even as it vowed to take revenge.

Three deaths were reported on Saturday from southeastern Laxmipur, where clashes between Jamaat workers and police broke out after a local leader of the party was allegedly found dead hours after he was picked up by security personnel.

On Friday, seven persons died when Jamaat cadres clashed with police at several places, including Noakhali, Satkhira, Khulna and Jessore. The dead included six leaders and activists of the Jamaat, two Awami League workers, a BNP activist and a street vendor.

Meanwhile, Jamaat activists set ablaze the house of State Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku in Pabna, which was rented out to the local passport office. One room of the two-storey building was damaged when the activists hurled a petrol bomb, the police said.

Earlier in the day, unidentified persons damaged two Hindu idols at a temple in northwestern Sirajganj.

Image: A man cries after Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami party activists torched his vehicle during a clash with police in Dhaka

Photograph: Andrew Biraj/Reuters