Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a party in Bangladesh that supported deposed leader Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a Bangladeshi party it supported the country’s deposed leader, Sheikh Hasina on Thursday evening, media reports. There is no information whether anyone was injured.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jatiya party offices in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. Television stations and other media reported that the attackers stormed the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Bijoy Nagar district, clashed with party members present there, and eventually set the premises on fire.

The scale of the damage was not immediately known. According to Rashed bin Khaled, an official of the Fire Department and Civil Defense, firefighters arrived at the scene. Bin Khaled, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone, gave no other details.

The party is the third largest party in Bangladesh and was founded by former military dictator HM Ershad in the 1980s.

During the attack, a prominent leader of the student protest movement that led to Hasina’s ouster in August said the Jatiya Party should be “destroyed” for supporting her government.

Hasnat Abdullah, a student leader, claimed in a Facebook post that the Jatiya Party is a “traitor to the nation”.

Abdullah is a member of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, which led the July protests. He also urged students to gather at Dhaka University and march towards the Jatiya Party headquarters.

Party secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu blamed students for the attack. “People are watching what they are doing to us,” he said. “It’s live on social media… they’re doing it publicly, openly.”

Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League party has ruled the country for 15 years, since 2009. Its critics say the Jatiya Party has acted to give Hasina’s rule an appearance of democracy because other major political parties did not participate in the elections.

Hasina fled the country for India on August 5 after a student-led demonstration turned into an anti-government protest movement. Hundreds of students, security officers and others died during the riots.

Later, hundreds more, including Hasina’s supporters, died in revenge attacks or mob violence across the South Asian country. She now threatened with an arrest warrant for the murders in July and August.

Muhammad Yunusa Nobel Prize winner from Bangladesh, took over in August as the head of an interim government supported by a group of students and the country’s influential army.

However, his administration struggled to restore order.