In hot blood

AS IF the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building, where the death toll has now topped 900, was not enough, now come fresh deaths in Bangladesh from political violence. What happened in Dhaka and beyond in the early hours of May 6th looks like a massacre.

European diplomats say as many as 50 people were killed in the capital as security forces cracked down on members of an extreme Islamist group, Hefajat-e-Islam. Many more were killed elsewhere. Odhikar, a reputable human-rights outfit, reports that some hundreds of people died during a “killing spree” by a force of 10,000 made up of police, paramilitaries and armed men from the ruling Awami League. Bodies were strewn about the streets of Dhaka’s commercial district. Deadly clashes took place elsewhere, such as at Narayanganj, south of the capital, where 20 people were reported killed.