Calls for restraint as Bangladesh drug war claims 11 more lives

Bangladesh police today shot dead nearly a dozen more alleged drug dealers officials said, as its no-holds barred offensive drew accusations of murder from rights groups and opposition parties.

At least 33 people have been gunned down in late-night shootouts since Bangladesh declared an all-out war on drugs a week ago.

The country has been struggling to contain a surging trade in illegal drugs, most notably methamphetamine pills known as "yaba" that are being sold by the hundreds of millions.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to fight the "drug menace" with the same intensity as a previous campaign that pursued homegrown militants and left dozens of Islamic radicals dead.

Police said four "top drug dealers" were gunned down in the rural districts of Comilla and Nilphamari, and seven more were killed elsewhere in Bangladesh.

But the country's main opposition party the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said one of its student activists, Amjad Hossain, had been unjustly targeted in one of the sweeps.

Police in the northern district of Netrokona told AFP that Hossain was a prominent