Nearly 300 held in Bangladesh for attacks on Buddhists

DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladesh police said on Tuesday they had arrested nearly 300 people after Muslim mobs attacked temples and houses in what Buddhist leaders described as the worst violence against the community since independence.

A total of 162 people were arrested in Cox's Bazaar, which bore the brunt of the attacks on Saturday and Sunday nights, according to Mr Khorshed Alam, a senior police officer in the south-eastern district.

A further 76 were arrested in neighbouring Chittagong and 36 in Bandarban district, local police officials said.

Mr Alam said that a final tally of the damage caused by the mobs in Cox's Bazaar had found 11 temples were torched and seven were damaged or ransacked in the district.