Saturday, August 20 2005 16:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: At least 40 people were injured in clashes with police during a nationwide general strike called by Bangladesh's main opposition alliance to protest the serial bombings on Wednesday (Aug 17, 2005) by suspected Muslim extremists.

Sporadic clashes were reported in several areas of capital Dhaka and nearby Naryanganj city leaving some 40 people injured.

Police also detained 30 people, including pro-strike women activists, during the first half of the one-day stoppage.

Authorities deployed more than 8,000 riot police, armed battalion and para-military forces in Dhaka to quell possible violence as hundreds of opposition activists took to the streets calling on the Government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to resign for failing to stop the bombings.

The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party has rejected the demand.

The strike took effect hours after Zia returned home cutting short her visit to China due to the bombings that left two people killed and nearly 150 injured.

She has condemned the bombings as a 'heinous, cowardly, conspiratorial and well-planned act of terrorism.'

Amid a security clampdown following the bombings, the one-day strike called by the 14-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League paralyzed much of the country. The Communist Party of Bangladesh also separately called for the shut down.

No inter-district buses were operating and schools, private offices and banks were shut.

The opposition and governing sides have blamed each other for the bombings.

Hasina has called for an international probe

Accusing the Government of failing to crack down on militancy, Hasina has called for an international probe into the incident.

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a banned group, was the prime suspect for the bombings after its leaflets warning of more actions were found at the site of the explosions.

Police have since detained about 100 suspects and two of them had confessed to being members of the outfit.

Meanwhile, two people were killed yesterday while making bombs in western Meherpur district. The two were said to be on the wanted list of the police.