Islamic militants kill Dhaka policeman

DHAKA, FEB. 3. Muslims enraged by a ban on Islamic edicts involving women's rights killed a policeman and wounded 15 others in the Bangladesh capital today, police said.

They said militants overpowered a police patrol in the city's Mohammadpur area and dragged the officers to a nearby Madrasa (religious school), and beat them with sticks.

``Constable Badsha Miah died and 15 others suffered serious injuries,'' said the Mohammadpur police inspector, Mr. Didarul Alam.

``The body has been recovered and the injured have been moved to a police hospital,'' Mr. Alam said, adding that police had arrested over 35 militants.

Nearly 100 other people were injured as police fought running battles with militants in Dhaka and its outskirts, witnesses said. Police said they arrested at least 40 people for throwing stones.

Witnesses said police used batons and teargas, but Mr. Mohammad Wasel, a spokesman for the Islamists, said the police also used rubber bullets. Riot police and paramilitary troopers deployed in the capital on Saturday to prevent violence after Islami Oikyo Jote, a radical Muslim coalition, called for a day-long strike in protest against a court ruling.

The Bangladesh High Court decided in December to ban fatwas, or edicts by Islamic clerics, that could subject women to torture for alleged adultery and prevent them from mixing and working with men outside their families.

Thousands of supporters of the court ruling, including veiled women and girls carrying placards demanding equal rights, defied the Jote strike and poured onto Dhaka's national parade ground. Many danced and sang songs, witnesses said.

Security forces kept a close watch amid fears of an attack by Islamic militants, a day after at least 50 people were injured in clashes between police and Jote followers.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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