Dhaka rocked by bombings

Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators who were smashing vehicles.

A coalition of 18 opposition parties was striking to demand that a caretaker government be restored before national elections in 2014 and for some of their leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity to be freed from jail.

Schools and businesses were closed in Dhaka and other major cities, while transportation was disrupted nationwide. Independent television stations reported the detention of at least six opposition activists from the Dhaka University area in the capital.

Police said that activists had torched at least 21 vehicles in Dhaka late on Monday after police arrested a senior leader of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Police said that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting BNP secretary general, had been arrested on charges of instigating violence and torching a vehicle during a nationwide road blockade on Sunday.

Dozens of vehicles were burned and smashed and at least two people died during the opposition-sponsored blockade.

Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party and the main partner of Zia's party, has demanded the release of nine of its leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity dating back to the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Meanwhile, presiding judge Mohammed Nizamul Huq, who was due to conduct the trials, resigned today amid criticism of his conduct.