Bangladesh polling booths burn

Unidentified arsonists set fire to at least five primary schools, including four polling booths, in Bangladesh, police said on Saturday, the eve of a general election that the main opposition party is boycotting.
Police are investigating the fires in Gazipur, on the outskirts of capital Dhaka, but suspected that wrongdoers aiming to disrupt Sunday’s election had set fire to the schools in the middle of the night.
“We have intensified patrolling and remain on high alert to thwart any untoward incident,” said Gazipur police chief Kazi Shafiqul Alam.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotting for the second time in three elections, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is trying to legitimise a sham vote that will deliver her party a fourth straight term.