Transport blockade paralyses Bangladesh

DHAKA, Nov 20 (Reuters) At least 20 people were wounded in gunbattles between rival activists as a transport blockade to force the removal of controversial election officials paralysed Bangladesh today, police and witnesses said.

The wounded, including a policeman caught in crossfire, were taken to hospitals following battles in western Natore, 230 km from the capital Dhaka.

Police used batons and teargas to quell the violence on the first day of an indefinite blockade.

Witnesses said thousands of activists of a 14-party alliance led by Sheikh Hasina, chief of the Awami League, squatted on highways linking Dhaka with Chittagong city and other centres.

Police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion watched the chanting protesters but did not try to disperse them, the witnesses said.

''We are facing a bigger law-and-order challenge today as both sides are massing their men on the streets,'' a police officer told Reuters, referring to the Awami League and rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Two people were killed and hundreds injured during a stoppage last week.

The blockades have been organised by the 14-party alliance, which is determined to boot out the poll officials ahead of national elections in January.

REUTERS SP KP2341