DHAKA, April 7: Two foreign companies, Bata and Uro Cola, have taken out advertisements in the Dhaka dailies clarifying that they were not American or British firms.

The separate advertisements appeared in the newspapers following some of the stores of the companies were ransacked in the city on Friday by those protesting the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.

“Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) Ltd., is not an Anglo-American company,” said an advertisement placed in both English and Bengali-language newspapers.

“Bata, which is the biggest shoe store chain in Bangladesh, had Canadian and Bangladeshi owners,” the advertisement said.

The German company Fymrise, producer of soft drink Uro Cola, also placed advertisement in the dailies, saying that it had nothing to do with the United Kingdom or United States. “We are rather expressing our solidarity with the Iraqi people and strongly protest the Anglo- American naked aggression,” the advertisement said.