by Helen Rowe
DHAKA, Aug 23 (AFP) - Riot police patrolled tense Bangladeshi cities and colleges were closed Monday ahead of a two-day general strike called to protest a grenade attack on a political rally that killed 19 people, witnesses said.
In the capital Dhaka, police and paramilitary forces dressed in riot gear were on standby, Dhaka metropolitan additional police commissioner Mizanur Rahman told AFP.
In the southeastern port city of Chittagong, meanwhile, more than 2,000 paramilitaries and police from armed units were deployed at key facilities such as oil refineries, a spokesman said.
The city was working normally following a wild-cat strike Sunday but traffic was significantly lighter as citizens fearing possible violence opted to stay at home, witnesses said.
Strikes and violent demonstrations erupted across Bangladesh after Saturday's attack on a rally of the main opposition Awami League, but there were no reports Monday of any disturbances.
In response to the attack, the Awami League called a nationwide general strike for Tuesday and Wednesday while its youth wing Sunday said all educational facilities should close indefinitely.
Saturday's attack occurred as Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed was finishing a speech outside the party's headquarters in Dhaka.
The opposition leader escaped with minor leg injuries but her bodyguard was killed, officials said.
"I heard a big bang and the next moment blood splashed on my body," the English language Daily Star quoted her as saying Monday.
"Leaders and security members formed a human shield around me and helped me into my car. Then came bullets hitting my car one after another," she said, adding that she held the government responsible for the attack.
Party officials have said the blasts were an attempt to assassinate the opposition leader.
The government Sunday condemned the attacks and strongly denied involvement.
Awami League secretary general Abdul Jalil said the number of dead had risen to 19 following the death Sunday of another blast victim at a private hospital.
Doctors at two Dhaka hospitals said Monday 21 people were still being treated for serious injuries although an unknown number had also gone to private clinics.
The government had appointed a senior High Court judge to carry out a judicial inquiry into the attack, the official BSS news agency said.
Sheikh Hasina Monday met foreign envoys to Bangladesh, including British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury, who was injured in a bomb blast in the northeastern city of Sylhet in May.
"We were shocked and horrified at this event," Choudhury said after meeting Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister of Bangladesh.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Sheikh Hasina Sunday to express his support, BSS said.
In a statement issued in Washington late Sunday he also condemned the attack and called for calm.
"The perpetrators of this heinous act clearly intend to undermine democracy in Bangladesh," Powell said. "They must not succeed. The US urges all parties to act with restraint," he added.
The attack follows a series of unexplained bomb blasts in Sylhet this year.
Earlier this month, two explosions within a week in the city claimed one life each and in June another explosion killed one person and injured about 50 others.
In May, High Commissioner Choudhury was wounded when a bomb exploded outside a mosque in Sylhet killing three people, while in January four people died in a blast at a 700-year-old shrine.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
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