Police in Bangladesh investigating bomb blasts that killed at least 17 people have detained up to 50 opposition activists, including prominent leaders and newspaper columnists, on charges of suspected anti-state activities.
Police said they took into custody nearly 50 people in Dhaka, the capital, after a series of blasts that rocked four cinemas in the northern town of Mymenshingh on Saturday, injuring about 300 people in addition to the dead.
Nearly 2,000 men, women and children had packed into the cinemas in Mymenshingh, 150 km north of Dhaka, to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Police said they had arrested 21 people, including some students, in Mymenshingh, and were interrogating them. The police arrested 39 people on Saturday.