Bangladesh protesters refuse to end blockade

DHAKA, Nov 14 (Reuters) Political activists attacked vehicles across Bangladesh for a third day today and stopped trains in a transport blockade to force the removal of controversial election officials ahead of polls in January.

Two men have been killed and over 100 injured in clashes with police over the previous two days as the political crisis gathered momentum ahead of the general election.

Hundreds of protesters, who are mainly drawn from a 14-party alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina today, stoned vehicles in towns of north and eastern Bangladesh.

''We cannot leave the roads or let the transport move again until they fulfil our conditions,'' said Abdul Jalil, general secretary of Hasina's Awami League.

The Awami League-led alliance says the chief election commissioner and his deputies are sympathetic towards the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year term as prime minister last month.

The BNP has rejected the charges and the interim administration led by President Iajuddin Ahmed has so far made no public comment on the demand for the removal of the election officials.

Ahmed's advisers were due to meet leaders of BNP, the Jatiya Party of former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad and the small Liberal Democratic Party later today in a bid to reduce the political temperature.

The administration has said it will call in the army, if needed, to maintain order.

Reporters said hundreds of alliance supporters gathered in Dhaka and other major cities early today, blocking links between the capital and the rest of the country.

''Never before have we seen such a crippling situation,'' said Mohammad Rouf, a businessman stranded in the capital since the blockade began on Sunday.

Operations at the country's two sea ports are also shut, officials said.

The shutdown was starting to hurt the poor. ''I have been without work for two days with my family starving,'' said three-wheeler cab driver Abdul Baset as he took out his vehicle in Dhaka on Tuesday to look for customers.

Police said fears of more violence have risen after the BNP announced plans yesterday to ''take to the streets and face off those trying to jeopardise democracy and economy''.

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