The Mohila Awami League and the Jubo League, women's and youth fronts of the AL, are set to enforce a dawn-to-dusk countrywide hartal to protest the rally bombing that killed 19 people and injured over 200 others.

The AL has extended support to the hartal call, the fourth after the bombing on Bangabandhu Avenue in the heart of the capital apparently aimed at assassinating AL President Sheikh Hasina.

The ruling four-party alliance is also set to stage rallies in Dhaka, protesting the attack and violence in its wake.

The BNP deferred its protest rally from August 28 to 30 as a hartal by the AL, left 11-party alliance, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) and National Awami Party (NAP) coincided with it.

But no-one of the bitter political rivals has suspended its programme to calm down the boiling political stage.

The government put the law enforcement agencies on high alert to avoid probable clashes.

The police arrested seven people believed to be activists of the AL and its student front Bangladesh Chhatra League in Ramna after they launched raids at about 11:00pm to arrest opposition leaders and activists.

A series of bombs went off 20 yards from the temporary central office of Bikalpa Dhara in Baridhara at about 8:45pm, sending plumes of black smoke skywards, a party press release says.

Sources said a section of policymakers in the key parties tried to avoid confrontation by deferring their agitation programmes, but faced strong opposition within the parties.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) yesterday expressed concern at the simultaneous programmes.

The FBCCI requested the AL to defer the hartal to another day what the ruling BNP earlier did.

Both the political parties stuck to their programmes and continued to shift the blame onto each other, stoking fears of violence, chaos and confrontation.

"We showed our tolerance and shifted Saturday's programme to Monday to avoid confrontation, but the main opposition called the hartal with deliberate intent to hamper our programme," BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told a press briefing yesterday.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil dismissed the allegation, saying his party did not consider others' programmes to chart out its course of action. He questioned the ruling alliance motive for unveiling the protest programme.

The 6:00am to 6:00pm shutdown is also aimed at protesting police action on women pickets during the previous hartals.

The first three hartals in the wake of the crime were jointly called by the AL, 11 left parties and the JSD. But the 11-party alliance and the JSD did not give support for today's hartal.

The leaders of the opposition parties yesterday sat with Hasina to discuss the political situation and also to finalise a strategy to launch a vigorous movement against the fundamentalists-allied government. The meeting was going on until filing of this report.

About 20 women bodies, including Sammilita Nari Samaj, Narigrantha Probortona, Nari Sramik Trade Union, Mohila Samity, Bangladesh Karmajibi Mohila Parishad, Samajtantrik Mohila Front and Bangladesh Jatiya Nari Sramik Jote extended support to the shutdown at a joint meeting with Mahila Awami League on Saturday night. The meeting was held at AL's Dhanmondi office.

Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) in a press release yesterday differed with the women organisations supporting the hartal, saying it opposed shutdowns in the interest of the nation.