Bus conductor killed in Bangladesh strike bomb

A bomb killed a bus conductor during an opposition-sponsored general strike in Bangladesh that closed schools and stores and halted most traffic for a second day today, police said.

None of the passengers, defying the strike by using the bus, was hurt when the hurled bomb smashed through the window late on Tuesday in Dhaka’s Mirpur district, a police officer said.

The 28-year-old conductor, or ticket collector, was the only one wounded. He died on the way to a hospital.

Also on Tuesday, the start of the two-day protest, police fired rubber bullets and wounded five demonstrators in central Dhaka.

An alliance of four opposition parties enforced the strike in protest at a weekend armed attack on Khaleda Zia, the main opposition leader and predecessor of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Zia was unharmed.