The attackers damaged a microbus at the tail of the motorcade and injured 11 AL workers. President of Gopalganj upazila AL Sheikh Yusuf Gazi and General Secretary Sheikh Liakat Ali were among the wounded.

Barisal BNP, however, denied any such attack. Hasina was going to the town to address a rally from Bhola on the last day of her three-day tour to the south.

Violence gripped Barisal town as police raided AL workers' houses during the day and BNP activists attacked people going to the rally.

BNP men also prevented engine boats and launches carrying rally-bound passengers from anchoring at terminals and even riverbanks. Passengers were also beaten up.

Transports were searched and ransacked at Bakerganj on Barisal-Patuakhali and at Kashipur on Barisal-Dhaka highways. Passen-gers were beaten away.

At Amtala in the town, a group led by Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader Akbar swooped on a procession and roughed up the demonstrators.

The attackers also vandalised a bus carrying AL supporters to the meeting and dispersed them. They also stopped ferry operation at different

Later in the night, BNP men torched Bhola AL office near Bangla School at about 7:15pm.

The attackers chanting the slogan "Tofailer Astana Jaliey Dao, Puriye Dao" (Burn Tofail's den) attacked and threw bombs on the office before looting it. The office furniture was set on fire.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and police recovered two unexploded bombs. Police are patrolling the town as tension runs high.

"The coalition government has failed in every sector and lost every right to stay in power any more," the leader of the opposition told a mammoth rally at Bangabandhu Udyan of Barisal town in the afternoon amidst a tense situation. "The country is under a dual rule of the government and the Hawa Bhaban."

"No-one can do anything without giving a share to the Bhaban," she alleged. She demanded reform of the electoral system with transparent ballot boxes and transparency in vote casting and counting.

"The government has bankrupted the country and only developed terrorism and corruption," she said.

"If anybody thinks our tolerance being a sign of weakness, they will make a big mistake. We know how to strike back."

AL central leaders including Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Obaidul Kader and Mahmudur Rahman Manna accompanied Hasina on the tour.

She later visited the family members of the AL supporters injured in the attack during her motorcade.

Hasina changed her overnight stay at Barisal Circuit House and left for Tungipara after the rally as State Minister for Cultural Affairs Seilma Rahman organised a workers' meeting at the same venue in the evening.

On Wednesday night, BNP men burned a truck at Goria on the city outskirts reserved for carrying people to Hasina's rally. They also attacked and ransacked the village home of the Jubo League central secretary at Patarhat on the same night and assaulted his mother.