Bangladesh PM Hasina flees country, military takes over

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on Monday as she fled weeks of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government.

Hasina had sought since early July to quell nationwide protests against her government but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed.

Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television on Monday Hasina had resigned and the military would form an interim government.

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” Walker said, dressed in military fatigues.

“I hope after my speech, the situation will improve,” he said.

The career infantryman said he would talk to the president to form a caretaker government in the South Asian nation of some 170 million people. It was not immediately clear if he would lead it.

Waker said he had held talks with the main opposition parties and civil society members but not Hasina’s Awami League.

Hasina, 76, fled the country by helicopter, a source close to the leader told AFP shortly after protesters had stormed her palace in Dhaka.

The source said she left first by motorcade but was then flown out, without giving her destination.