DHAKA, April 23: Two demonstrators were killed and more than 20 police injured in Bangladesh on Monday as police fought with demonstrators protesting over the disappearance of opposition leader Ilias Ali.

Police said mobs armed with sticks and stones set fire to a local council building and attacked a police station in Sylhet city, home to Mr Ali, a prominent Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) figure who has been missing for six days.

`There were more than 10,000 protesters. They attacked policemen and tried to besiege a police station. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them,` Shakhawat Hossain, police chief of Sylhet, told AFP.

He added that a 25-year-old man was killed and more than 20 policemen were injured, four of them seriously.

Abul Kalam Azad, a doctor at Sylhet`s Osmani Medical College Hospital, said police also brought in the dead body of a 22-year-old protester.

Local media said at least 100 people had been hurt in the violence, and reported that police had used live rounds to break up the protests.

Opposition has blamed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina`s government for the disappearance of dozens of opposition activists over the past two years, alleging the victims have been abducted on government orders.

Police found Mr Ali`s car abandoned in an upmarket district of the capital Dhaka on Tuesday night. His driver is also missing. Mr Ali, a regional head of the BNP, is the highest profile opposition politician to have `disappeared` since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina`s Awami League party took power in January 2009.The BNP has accused the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) of abducting Ali, an allegation that the force and the government have rejected.

Sylhet, 120 miles (200 kilometres) northeast of Dhaka, also saw brief clashes on Sunday, the first day of a national strike called by the BNP and its allies in protest at Mr Ali`s disappearance.

In Dhaka, the streets were empty on Monday and businesses and schools were closed for the second day, while thousands of policemen were deployed to prevent violence.

Two small bombs exploded in the city on Sunday, but no one was injured.

The families of Premier Hasina and Khaleda Zia, head of the BNP, have com-peted for power for decades in Bangladesh with the personal rivalry between the two women often triggering street clashes between their parties.

Violent protests in 2006 led to a suspension of democratic rule with a military-backed interim administration in control until Ms Hasina won elections in December 2008.

Both Ms Hasina and Ms Zia were detained for a year as part of an anti-corruption crackdown launched by the caretaker government.

The current Awami League government has fallen in popularity in recent months due to soaring food prices, a cut in energy subsidies and a series of graft allegations.-AFP