Bangladesh deploys army after more violence over tribunal

(Reuters) - Bangladesh deployed troops on Sunday to a town where eight people were killed in clashes between police and Islamist party supporters protesting against the conviction of party leaders on charges stemming from the country's 1971 independence war.

Bangladesh has been rocked by protests and counter-protests since January, when a tribunal set up by the government to investigate abuses during the war of independence against Pakistan handed down its first conviction, sentencing a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in absentia to death.

About 60 people have been killed in protests since the tribunal's third conviction on Thursday, when another member of the Islamist party, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, 73, was sentenced to death for abuses including murder and rape during the war.

He denied the charges and his lawyer said he would appeal. Another party member was sentenced to life in prison on February 5.

Thousands of Jamaat-e-Islami activists took to the streets of Bogra town, 220 km (140 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka, on Sunday and attacked police with crude bombs, swords and sticks, police and witnesses said.

found @ http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/us-bangladesh-violence-idUSBRE92203M20130303