Bangladesh has executed a top leader of the country’s biggest Islamic party for war crimes that took place four decades ago, sparking violence in Asia’s fifth-most populous country.

The Supreme Court rejected final appeals today by five former soldiers sentenced to death in the 1975 killing of Bangladesh’s independence leader in a military coup, a government lawyer said.

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.

An angry mob set fire to a passenger train in central Bangladesh today, injuring at least 20 people.