Attackers set fire to the headquarters of the Bangladesh party that supports deposed leader Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a supporting Bangladeshi party The country’s deposed leader Sheikh Hasina According to media reports on Thursday night. There was no information about whether he was injured or not.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jatiya Party offices in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. TV stations and other media outlets said the attackers stormed the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Bijoy Nagar area, clashed with party members present there and eventually set fire to the building.

The extent of the damage was not immediately known. Firefighters rushed to the scene, according to Fire Brigade and Civil Defense official Rashed bin Khaled. Bin Khalid had no further details when he spoke to The Associated Press by phone.

The party is Bangladesh’s third largest party and was founded by former military dictator HM Ershad in the 1980s.

As the attack continued, one of the prominent leaders of the student protest movement that resulted in Hasina’s ouster in August said the Jatiya Party should be “destroyed” for its support for her government.

Student leader Hasnat Abdullah claimed in a Facebook post that the Jatiya party was a “national traitor”.

Abdullah is from the Student Movement Against Discrimination, which led the July protests. He also urged students to gather at Dhaka University and march towards the Jatiya Party headquarters.

Party general secretary Mujibul Haque Chunnu blamed the students for the attack. “People are watching what they do with us,” he said. “They’re live on social media… They’re doing it openly, publicly.”

Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League party has ruled the country for 15 years, since 2009. Her critics said the Jatiya Party was acting to give a veneer or democracy to Hasina’s rule as other major political parties did not participate in the elections.

After the student-led demonstration turned into an anti-government protest movement, Hasina fled the country for India on August 5. Hundreds of students, security guards and others were killed during the mayhem.

Hundreds of people, including Hasina’s supporters, were later killed in revenge attacks or mob violence in the South Asian country. that now Faces arrest warrants For the murders in July and August.

Muhammad YunusThe Bangladeshi Nobel laureate became head of an interim government in August, backed by a student group and the country’s influential military.

However, his administration had difficulty maintaining order.