New Delhi, April 23, IRNA -- At least two people were killed and scores of others, including policemen, injured as police clashed with armed protesters on the second day of a nationwide strike over the mysterious disappearance of an opposition leader.

The law enforcement agency men used gunshots and tear gas canisters to control over 10,000 protesters as clashes erupted at Biswanath, largely parlaysing normal life in the capital and elsewhere in the country, keeping most vehicles off the road and closing schools and shopping malls, the PTI reported.

The strike was sponsored by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, demanding the government to find its organising secretary Ilias Ali, who went missing last week along with his driver.

Two unidentified men were killed and several others, including policemen injured at Ali's hometown as violent protesters attacked a police station, prompting authorities to call out paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops to help police and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Equipped with homemade bombs, stones and bamboo sticks, Ali's supporters also attacked the main government complex at Biswanath, destroyed official papers and torched the vehicle of the Administrative Chief Officer of the sub district, police said.

'The violence also left several others injured and two of our policemen are being treated at Osmany Memorial Hospital with critical wounds,' Sylhet's police superintendent Sakhawat Hossain said.

Police in Dhaka detained BNP's vice-president and former minister Selima Rahman and 14 other opposition activists in the capital while the opposition claimed 371 of their leaders and activists were aarested during the shutdown across the country.