Nearly 10,000 security forces fanned out across the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka today during an opposition-sponsored general strike that shut down schools and stores and disrupted traffic.

Bangladeshi authorities today stepped up security across the country in preparation for the 34th anniversary of independence, won in a bloody civil war with Pakistan, officials said.

Security forces nabbed the suspected military commander and the alleged money man of a banned Islamic group blamed for a series of deadly bombings in Bangladesh, claiming a breakthrough today in their fight against the militants.