Bangladesh strike over war crimes trials sparks clashes

Police in Bangladesh have fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters during a strike called by the country's largest Islamist party.

Clashes took place in the capital Dhaka - where demonstrators torched vehicles - and other towns and cities.

The strike has been called by the Jamaat-e-Islami (J-e-I), in protest at war crimes trials in which a number of its leaders are charged.

Correspondents say much of the country has been brought to a standstill.

Many schools and businesses are shut and roads deserted.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan reports in Dhaka says there are concerns about the country's political stability as the Jamaat-e-Islami has threatened to intensify its protests if the war crimes trial is not stopped.

Bangladesh says more than three million people died when troops were sent to stop East Pakistan becoming independent in 1971.

Last week, a special tribunal sentenced a former member of Jamaat-e-Islami to death in absentia.

Eleven others, nine of them Jamaat leaders, are facing trial.

The verdicts in the other cases are expected imminently, BBC reports.