Two people were killed when police fired into thousands of unruly villagers who threw stones and vandalised buildings in protests over frequent power outages in north-western Bangladesh, an official said today.

Dozens of small bomb blasts rattled the capital Dhaka and towns across Bangladesh today as a series of carefully timed attacks killed one person and injured at least 42 others.

Floods caused by heavy monsoon rains have trapped nearly 50,000 people in their villages and damaged hundreds of houses in northern Bangladesh.