Six dead, 100 wounded as B'desh police shoot at farmers

DHAKA, Tuesday (AFP) Six people were killed and around 100 were wounded Monday when police in northwest Bangladesh opened fire on a crowd of 10,000 rioting farmers demanding improved electricity supply, police said.

"They (the farmers) were furious. There were about 10,000 farmers and only 100 police. They pushed us back and back and torched our police vehicles. They were about to torch us. We didn't have any choice but to fire," police sub-inspector Mohammed Jaluluddin told AFP.

The farmers besieged an electricity board office at Shibganj in Chapai Nawabganj district, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) from Dhaka, in a repeat of a protest at the same office on January 4 when police shot at the crowd killing two and injuring more than 15 people.

"Five people died and 48 police were injured," a police official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. An official at the nearby Rajshahi Medical College, Anisur Rahman, said a sixth person died there later Monday.

Three other people transferred to the hospital with bullet wounds were in a critical condition, he added.

District superintendent of police Rezaul Karim told AFP earlier he could only confirm one dead and around 50 police injured, six of them seriously. The official BSS news agency said around 100 people had been injured.

"They came to the office and attacked police. They torched 10 vehicles. We showed extreme restraint. At first we fired blanks to disperse them. Then, to protect ourselves, we fired (live ammunition)," said Karim.

Officials said the farmers were also demanding the release of three colleagues who were arrested on Sunday for their part in the January 4 demonstration.