Street clashes kill three in Bangladesh

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DHAKA, Bangladesh, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Opposition party leaders called for a general strike in Bangladesh after street clashes over a war crimes tribunal left three people dead.

Police and supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party squared off this weekend amid clouds of tear gas and eventual gunfire in the city of Cox's Bazar, where a party leaded was convicted of crimes dating to the 1971 war of independence.

Jamaat officials denied police allegations they had fired shots at officers and urged a nationwide strike Monday to protest the deaths.

The BBC said thousands of counter-demonstrators in the capital Dhaka marched Saturday to demand the death penalty for those convicted by the tribunal.

The defendants in the ongoing tribunal are accused of consorting with Pakistani authorities during war. An estimated 3 million people died in the conflict.