DHAKA, Dec 31: As many as 522 people were killed, 6,222 injured, 2,914 arrested and 28 were abducted in incidents of human rights violations in connection with politics in the year that just went by , says Odhikar, a Dhaka-based human rights coalition, in its yearly report on the state of human rights, released on Friday.

In 2003, 436 people were killed, 6,281 were injured and 2,381 were arrested in similar incidents. According to the report, 238 people were killed by the law enforcing agencies in 2004, up from 81 in 2003.

However, of the 238 victims, 77 were killed by the Rapid Action Battalion, 103 by the police, 9 by two elite forces - Cheetah and Cobra - and 8 by other law enforcement agencies.

One hundred and forty-seven of them were killed in 'crossfire' - 62 with RAB, 76 with the police and 7 with Cheetah and Cobra. Besides, 90 people died in custody in 2004 - 80 in prisons and the rest in police stations. The figure was the same in 2003.

In addition to 2,914 people arrested in incidents of human rights violations in connection with politics, about 8,500 were arrested in joint operation of the police and the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles in the capital between April 18 and 25, 2004, said the report.

In the report, Odhikar mentioned the figure quoting police sources and added that the official figure of the mass arrest was 6,494. The mass arrest was made in the face of the April 30 ultimatum, given by the Awami League to the government.

The police also went for another mass arrest between September 23 and 29 in the face of the October 3 'grand rallies' of the major opposition political parties, arresting 5,748 people countrywide, including 2,027 in Dhaka.

According to the Odhikar report, five journalists were killed, 111 injured, 9 arrested, 2 abducted, 32 assaulted, 292 threatened and 120 sued in 2004.