A nationwide opposition-sponsored general strike to protest the Wednesday bombings by suspected Islamic extremists gripped Bangladesh on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia returned home cutting short her visit to China.
    
Amid security clampdown following the unprecedented bombings, the one-day strike called by the 14-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League paralysed much of the country.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh separately also called for the shut down. No inter-district buses were operating and schools, private offices and banks were shut too. Few vehicles were seen on the streets of Dhaka.

Also read: Serial blasts rock Bangladesh

The Prime Minister had condemned the bombings as a 'heinous, cowardly, conspiratorial and well-planned act of terrorism.'

She also appealed for calm and ordered security agencies to crack down on suspects.Islamic extremists are believed to be responsible for the bombings, according to media reports.

Police and security forces were patrolling the capital city in strength. The opposition and governing sides have blamed each other for the bombings.

Also read: 100 suspects arrested after Bangladesh bombings

Accusing the government of not cracking down on militancy earlier, Sheikh Hasina had called for an international probe into the incident.
    
Hasina was herself injured in a bomb attack in August last year in which 23 of her party members were killed.
    
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a banned group, was the prime suspect for the bombings after its leaflets warning of more actions were found wherever bombs had exploded.
    
Police have since detained about 100 suspects and 2 of them had confessed to being members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.