DHAKA, Jan 26: Human Rights Watch accused Bangladesh security forces on Friday of a series of unlawful killings and arbitrary arrests under a state of emergency and called on authorities to halt the abuses.

The New York-based group called on officials to investigate the deaths and bring those responsible to justice, warning that the country's international image would suffer if nothing was done.

Quoting local rights groups, it said: “Security forces are implicated in a spate of extrajudicial killings since a state of emergency was declared in the country on January 11” to end weeks of political unrest.

“The killings have been attributed to members of the army, the police, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism force,” it added.—AFP