Death toll in Bangladesh clashes rises to 20

The death toll today from clashes in Bangladesh between police and hardline Islamists has risen to 20, police said, as violence spread from the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country.

Thirteen people died on the outskirts of Dhaka, five were killed in the southeastern city of Chittagong and another two died in Bagerhat in the south.

On Sunday, around 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands for reforms that critics say would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy.