Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday and fled the country, multiple sources said, as more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago.
Army chief General Waker-Us-Zaman said in a televised address that Hasina 76, had left the country and that an interim government would be formed.
Media reports said she had flown in a military helicopter with her sister and was headed to India. The CNN News 18 television channel said she had landed in Agartala, the capital of India’s northeastern state of Tripura.
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Television visuals showed thousands of people pouring into the streets of the capital Dhaka in jubilation and shouting slogans. Thousands also stormed Hasina’s official residence ‘Ganabhaban’, shouting slogans, pumping fists and showing victory signs.
“She has fled the country, fled the country,” some shouted.
Protesters in Dhaka also climbed atop a large statue of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, and began chiselling away at the = head with an axe, the visuals showed.
Earlier, French news agency AFP had reported that Hasina’s resignation would be a “possibility”, as six more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago.
Hasina and her sister had been taken to a “safe shelter” away from her official residence, a government source told Reuters.
“You see, the situation is very volatile. What is happening, I myself don’t know,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told Reuters.
Meanwhile, NetBlocks said internet connectivity was partially restored in Bangladesh as the army chief was to speak to the nation.
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