Bangladesh anti-govt protest death toll rises to 23

The death toll from clashes on Sunday between Bangladeshi protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign and pro-government supporters has risen to at least 23, police and doctors said.

The deaths were reported in the capital Dhaka and in the northern districts of Bogra, Pabna and Rangpur, as well as in Magura in the west, Comilla in the east, and Barisal and Feni in the south.

Earlier, Bangladeshi student leaders on August 3 said they would carry on a planned nationwide civil disobedience campaign until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned following last month's deadly police crackdown on protesters.

Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem in July that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina's 15-year tenure.

Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this week ahead of an all-out non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government planned to begin on Sunday.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, rebuffed an offer of talks with Hasina earlier in the day before announcing their campaign would continue until the premier and her government step down.