At least ten people were killed and nearly 300 injured in shootings, bomb attacks and gunfights in Bangladesh in pre-election violence, police said today.
They said violence flared across the country of 130 million people despite authorities deploying 55,000 troops in a desperate effort to improve law and order ahead of Monday's general election.
Police say nearly 290 people have been killed and thousands injured in the run-up to the polls.
Four activists of the Bangladesh Awami League were shot dead by paramilitary soldiers near Chittagong port on Friday and three others died in clashes between militants from the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Three more people were killed, at least 75 injured and 20 homes were burned in Bhola, 320 km (200 miles) south of capital Dhaka yesterday, police and witnesses said.
The BNP is headed by Begum Khaleda Zia, main rival to the Awami League's leader Sheikh Hasina. Both parties are the main contenders in the election.
The poll is being overseen by a non-party caretaker government headed by former chief justice Latifur Rahman, who took over on July 15th from then Prime Minister Hasina, the country's first prime minister to serve a full five-year term.