UPDATE - At least 32 killed, hundreds suffer bullet wounds in Bangladesh as students demand Premier Hasina resign

UPDATES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, AND DEATH TOLL

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - At least 32 people were killed while hundreds of others bullet injured across Bangladesh on Sunday as students took to the streets demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The people were killed in clashes on one side the protesters and on the other side the police and ruling Awami League party supporters.

At least 5 people were killed in Feni, 4 in Sirajganj, 3 in Munshiganj, 3 in Bogra, 3 in Magura, 3 in Bhola, 3 in Rangpur, 2 in Pabna, 2 in Sylhet, 1 in Comilla, 1 in Joypurhat, 1 in the capital Dhaka and 1 in Barisal, national newspaper daily Prothom Alo reported citing police and hospital sources.

People were killed in those 13 districts as ruling party armed groups swooped on protesters and opened fire; the report added.

Meanwhile, at least 42 were rushed to Chattogram Medical College Hospital with bullet wounds while at least 20 injured people took treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital after clashes between protesters on one side and the ruling Awami League and police on the other, it said.

In this emerging situation, the government ordered a shutoff of mobile internet, with Facebook and WhatsApp blocked again, the newspaper also said.

Earlier, the government had resumed mobile services after 10 days of blackout on July 28.

Meanwhile, the government tightened the ongoing military curfew and extended it for an indefinite period amid the violent situation, according to a Home Ministry notification on Sunday.

Earlier, Bangladesh imposed a curfew on July 20 amid the first round of the student protest that had gone out of control since July 16.

Meanwhile, retired military officers on Sunday at a news conference in Dhaka urged the country’s armed forces not to face the students-civilians, besides taking initiatives to resolve the ongoing political crisis of the country through dialogue.

Former chief of Bangladesh Army Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan in a written statement on behalf of retired officers urged for a UN-run investigation against all the organized killings during the student protests.

Key coordinator Nahid Islam on Saturday at a massive rally in the capital Dhaka announced a non-cooperation movement. He called on Hasina to resign and take responsibility for deaths during the student protests.

The non-cooperation movement called on the public to refrain from all routine government activities, including paying taxes and utility bills, to shut down all factories and offices, and to shut down transportation until the Hasina government resigns.

Hasina on Saturday said justice would be done for those killed during student protests and also called for dialogue to end the protests. Protesters, however, rejected the call for negotiations.

Sunday has been tense across the country, as the ruling Awami League party mobilized its supporters to respond to the protesters.

Opposition BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday also called on supporters to help the students on the streets.

Over the past three weeks, the South Asian nation of 170 million people has been rocked by turmoil due to a student-led protest demanding reforms to government job quotas.

The government said at least 150 people were killed in the recent violence during the student protests in July. Local media, however, said over 266 people, mostly students, were killed with bullet wounds in clashes with police and members of the ruling party.