Bangladesh Holds Opposition Figures for Cinema Bombs

Bangladesh has arrested dozens of opposition activists after the bomb explosions in four cinemas on Saturday which killed 17 people and injured 300 among families celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month.

The cinemas in Mymenshingh, 95 miles north of Dhaka, were packed with nearly 2,000 men, women and children when the bombs went off.

The three-day Eid al-Fitr festival, is one of the most important celebrations of the year in Bangladesh.

The police said that 21 people, some of them students, had been arrested in Mymenshingh and were being interrogated.

In Dhaka they took 39 members of the opposition Awami League party, including a former minister, into custody for "suspicious activities" not directly connected with the explosions.

The interior minister, Altaf Hossein Chowdhury, initially mentioned the possibility of al-Qaida being involved and said that opposition radicals were also suspected.

Later he issued a statement denying that he had made any connection with al-Qaida.

Time magazine claimed two months ago that 150 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had slipped into Bangladesh late last year. But the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, has denied that the country is a haven for Islamic extremists.

After visiting the injured yesterday she said: "It was the act of those who talks against the interest of the country during foreign visits": taken as a reference to the opposition leader and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Bangladesh National party coalition government has the support of several Islamic parties.

The choice of cinemas for Saturday's attacks suggests the hand of Islamists, but the government has recently carried out a draconian drive against crime, and it has many political enemies: several thousand people have been arrested by the army ,including members of the Awami League, which lost power last year.

Politics in Bangladesh is a bloody and venomous affair resulting in frequent violent clashes between rival supporters,and sometimes murder.

The Awami League condemned the arrest of its members - "It is a part of conspiracy against the main opposition", a senior figure said - and blamed radical Islamists.

A police officer in Mymenshingh, Dulal Akhand, said 57 people, many in critical condition, were being treated in hospital.

"The situation is tense, but under control," he said.

"Army troops are patrolling the town. They are checking every passing vehicle."

Doctors said the bombs appeared to have been left on the cinema floors, since many of the wounded had lost lower limbs.