Dhaka, Dec 17: The death toll in Bangladesh's two-month army-led crackdown on crime has risen to 37, security sources said today. A defence ministry source confirmed the deaths of four people in hospital, three in the Narayanganj and Tongi districts and one in the southeastern Chittagong Port city.
Earlier, 33 people had died out of the 7,000 who have been detained since Prime Minister Khaleda Zia ordered troops on to the streets on October 17 to tackle rampant crime, according to police and press reports.
Zia's government, which has confirmed only 12 of the deaths, has said all the victims died in hospital of heart attacks after being handed over to police. But some of the victims' families have alleged torture.
The source denied any of the four new deaths had occurred in army custody.
"The two in Narayanganj and Tongi were handed over to police unhurt," he said.
The government has defended the crackdown as "legal, constitutional, unbiased and fair."
But the operation has been criticised by the opposition, human rights groups, the US and the European Parliament.
The opposition Awami League, headed by Zia's arch-rival Sheikh Hasina Wajed, has accused Zia of using the drive to eliminate the party.
Zia ordered the anti-crime operation after admitting her Islamist-allied coalition had not fulfilled its promises to end violence during its first year in power. Bureau Report