Top Bangladesh police officials removed

The police commissioners of the two largest cities in Bangladesh have been replaced in a major reshuffle ahead of the general election.

The changes in the capital, Dhaka, and the city of Chittagong are the latest in a series of personnel shifts undertaken by the caretaker administration overseeing the run-up to the election in October.

The authorities gave no reason for the transfers.

Both commissioners have been switched to other posts within the police.

The former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, called the move a hasty and wholesale change.

But the Nationalist Party welcomed it, saying it would neutralise the administration by removing what it called controversial public officials.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service