Police opened fire at Bangladesh protesters on a remote island Tuesday, killing two and bringing to 20 the death toll in demonstrations aimed at forcing the premier to make way for a caretaker government ahead of elections.

An official said police fired rifles after hundreds of protesters from the country's largest Islamic party, a key ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), attacked them on Kutubdia island in the Bay of Bengal with rocks and sticks.

Scores of people were injured as violence raged across Bangladesh on Tuesday, the last of a three-day strike called by opposition activists in a bid to pressure the prime minister to resign.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the country's business body, expressed concern over the latest crisis that has killed at least 15 people since the weekend and urged both the government and opposition to resolve disputes through dialogue.

Fresh violence erupted across Bangladesh on Monday, leaving at least four people dead as rival party activists clashed on the second day of a strike amid a mounting political crisis.

Police said street battles broke out throughout Bangladesh between thousands of supporters of the ruling party and the opposition, which is demanding the prime minister quit and make way for elections under a caretaker government.

At least five people were killed in nationwide clashes as Bangladesh's opposition Sunday began a three-day strike to demand the prime minister quit and make way for polls under a caretaker government.

Police said officers opened fire at protesters in the western town of Nagarkanda after some 3,000 supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) ransacked a rural market and attacked police with bricks.

Bangladesh deployed paramilitary border guards in major cities Friday after the opposition called mass protests to force the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and order polls under a caretaker government.

Tensions have been rising since Hasina's ruling Awami League (AL) party rejected an October 24 deadline set by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for accepting its demands.

Bangladesh police Saturday banned all rallies in the capital Dhaka, fearing violence after the opposition called for "armed" protests to force elections under a caretaker government.

The ban comes after an official from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) urged supporters to stage non-stop protests starting October 25 armed with machetes and knives.

A huge fire at a Bangladeshi factory where workers were making clothes for labels such as Gap and H&M has killed seven people in the latest disaster to blight the country's garment industry.

Firefighters battled through the night to douse the flames at the Aswad Knit Composite factory at Sripur, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. Parts of the two-story building were still smoldering early Wednesday.

Terrified women and children hid in forests and security forces patrolled tense villages in western Myanmar on Wednesday, residents said, after sectarian clashes which left five Muslims dead.

President Thein Sein was expected to visit the violence-racked area as part of his first official visit to Rakhine state since a wave of religious bloodshed erupted there last year.

Bangladeshi garment factory owners promised Sunday to raise wages for more than three million workers as soon as a government panel sets a figure, ending a week-long violent protest.

The manufacturers said they would raise wages by as much as the panel decides, despite earlier insisting they cannot afford more than a 20 percent increase on the existing minimum wage of $38 a month.

Bangladesh police opened fire on opposition activists Thursday, killing one protester, on the second day of a nationwide strike over the death sentence given to a senior Islamist leader for mass murder.

Police said the shooting occurred in the western town of Mujibnagar where 1,200 stick-wielding supporters of the country's largest Islamist party were blocking a motorway during protests over Tuesday's sentence.