Death toll climbs to 25 in Bangladesh unrest

At least four more people have been killed in Bangladesh as riots continue to increase following the execution of top opposition leader Abdul Quader Molla over war crimes.

The victims were reportedly killed during clashes involving opposition, pro-government activistis and the police, bringing the death toll up to at least 25.

This week, Bangladesh's highest court upheld the execution of Molla for his role in the country's 1971 war of independence that killed over three million people. He is one of five opposition leaders condemned to death by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal after mass protests in September called for them to be hanged rather than imprisoned for life.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to crack down on the violence on Sunday as opposition supporters torched houses and fought battles with officers during a third day of unrest, police said.

The hanging has heightened political tension weeks before the scheduled elections on January 5 as members of the Jamaat-e-Islami party said the execution was politically motivated.

Jamaat-e-Islami is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Molla was one of five opposition leaders and other politicians sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal, which was set up in 2009 to investigate crimes of genocide committed in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Some 250 people have been killed in street protests since January, when the first verdicts of the tribunal were handed down.