DHAKA, 2 January 2006 — At least one person was killed and 60 others were injured in clashes between police and supporters from rival political groups in Dhaka yesterday, sources said.

Most of the injuries occurred when supporters of the opposition Jatiya Party, led by former President Hossain Mohammad Ershad, stormed a rally of Bangladesh Communist Party, witnesses said.

The attackers burned books and furniture, and roughed up communist supporters before police arrived and chased away angry crowds, witnesses said.

Jatiya supporters also attacked and damaged a number of vehicles, including buses, he added.

As panic spread to nearby streets, a speeding bus knocked down a man, killing him on the spot, police said. The victim was a Jatiya supporter.

As supporters of the rival parties fought with bricks and bamboo sticks, and burned several buses and cars in the busy office district, hundreds of vehicles were blocked in the area and office workers fled in panic. Shops and cafes also closed their doors.

More than 60 people were injured in the melee. Riot police and firefighters broke up the fighting after about an hour.

At least 18 seriously injured people, including party activists and bystanders, were taken to nearby Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Both parties accused the other of instigating the clash.

The Jatiya Party was celebrating its 20th anniversary yesterday, while the communist party staged the rally to protest imperialism and price hikes, party sources said.

Jatiya Party has a few seats in the Parliament, while the Communist Party has none.

The communists have been an ally of the main opposition party, the Awami League, during its campaign to force out Prime Minister Khaleda Zia out, accusing her government of failing to control prices and harboring militants.

The Jatiya Party is likely to join an alliance with Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the next parliamentary elections, due in January 2007, but Ershad has said he is still undecided.

About 20 people were injured when police attacked Awami League supporters trying to march on the office of the Election Commission in the capital, witnesses said.

They were angry about the start yesterday of the creation of a new list of electors, saying it was wrong to make a list before other election issues were settled.

They want the Election Commission to be reformed to make it truly independent and capable of holding free and fair elections.

The opposition also wants reform of Bangladesh’s system of handing power to a panel of advisers at election time, which the constitution empowers to supervise the polls. The caretaker administration should be agreed by the ruling and opposition parties.

The government says it cannot be reformed as “the system worked perfectly in the last three elections”.

Bangladesh marked the New Year amid tight security in the wake of a wave of bomb attacks, including suicide bombings, by militants calling for introduction of Shariah law in the country. A suspected New Year’s Eve suicide bomb attack was foiled in Dhaka when an elite security force arrested a man carrying explosives inside a package of sweets, officers said Sunday.

Hafez Ahmed Kader, 21, a former madrasa student, was arrested in a Dhaka market on Saturday after he was found to be carrying a bomb in a package of sweets attached to a floral bouquet, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said in a statement.

“He is a suicide squad member of Jamatul Mujahedeen and the second battalion of RAB has learned that he came to Dhaka from Chittagong to carry out a bomb attack,” it said.

“The bomb-disposal team of RAB defused the bomb,” the statement said, adding that information from Kader helped them arrest another suicide squad member, Sheikh Arif Uddin, 30, at a Dhaka market.

Analysts said Bangladesh was likely to see more militancy in the run up to the polls.