Homemade bombs have exploded in Bangladesh's capital and police fired tear gas at demonstrators as opposition parties enforced a general strike, demanding that the government restore an election-time caretaker administration, Belfast Telegraph reported.

Schools and businesses were closed in Dhaka and other major cities and towns during the eight-hour shutdown. Nationwide transportation was largely disrupted during the second opposition strike this week.

Witnesses and TV stations reported that police fought pitched battles with opposition activists in parts of Dhaka, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was injured. Several vehicles whose drivers tried to defy the strike were either torched or smashed, police said.

Bangla Vision and Massranga television stations said dozens of people were detained in major cities.

A coalition of 18 opposition parties was enforcing the strike to demand that the caretaker government be restored before the next national elections due in 2014. A key coalition partner is also pressing for freedom of its leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity involving the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

The protest is led by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia.