Death toll in Bangladesh clashes rises to 20: police
Activists of Hefajat-e Islam vandalize a mini bus during a clash with the police in Narayanganj May 6, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Stringer
DHAKA | Mon May 6, 2013 12:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - The death toll on Monday from clashes in Bangladesh between police and hardline Islamists has risen to 20, police said, as violence spread from the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country.
Of the total, 13 people died on the outskirts of Dhaka, five were killed in the southeastern city of Chittagong and another two died in Bagerhat in the south.
On Sunday, around 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands for reforms that critics say would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Michael Roddy)
