DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshi villagers clashed on Monday with members of a religious group, leaving two dead people and scores injured, an official said.

Villagers rallied in the southern coastal district of Noakhali to demand a halt to the construction of a local Hizbut Tauhid mosque, said executive magistrate M. Nikaruzzaman.

“As the clashes spread, some 5,000 villagers attacked hundreds of followers of Hizbut Tauhid with sticks and rocks. Two people were killed and some 60 people were injured. The villagers also torched two homes of Hizbut Tauhid members,” he said.

Hundreds of police and paramilitary officers sent to the scene fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the rampaging villagers to try to halt the violence, police said.

Security forces arrest militants, seize explosives

Bangladesh's elite security force said it had arrested five suspected militants and seized a large quantity of explosives it suspects were destined for the upcoming new year celebrations.

Acting on a tip-off, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a district commander of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and four others from a Dhaka apartment late Sunday, a spokesman for the force said.

"We have recovered a huge cache of plastic explosive gels and detonators. We suspect they were planning to use the explosives during the Bengali new year celebration festival next month," RAB spokesman Sazzad Hossain said.

"We also have found propaganda books and leaflets which indicated they were trying to recruit people for committing such attacks," Hossain told AFP.

Bengali new year on April 14 is Bangladesh's largest festival and has been targeted before.

In April 2001, at least 10 people were killed and scores injured when militants threw bombs at new year revellers.

In 2005, the JMB carried out a deadly nationwide synchronised bombing campaign that shook the mainly moderate Sunni nation.

In subsequent bombing attacks targeting courts and government offices, at least 28 people were killed. Hundreds of suspected militants were later arrested and JMB's top leaders were executed in 2007.

In recent months, police have blamed a regrouped JMB for an upsurge in deadly violence, including the murder of two foreigners last year and attacks on minority communities.

The government has rejected the militant Islamic State (IS) group's claims of responsibility for some of those attacks, saying IS has no presence in the country.

Bangladesh has been plagued by unrest in the last three years, and experts say a long-running political crisis has radicalised opponents of the government.

Since November at least five JMB commanders have been killed in shootouts with security forces, police say.