Vast crowds have gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for the state funeral of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with mourners travelling from across the country to bid farewell to a towering political leader.
Footage showed huge crowds streaming in towards the national parliament building on Manik Mia Avenue, where her coffin, draped in the national flag, was taken in a convoy on Wednesday. About 10,000 security personnel lined the streets to maintain order, officials said.
Zia’s body was then interred alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981 during his time as president. Leaders and military officials laid wreaths as the burial took place.
Zia, the first woman to serve as prime minister in the South Asian nation when she became premier in 1991, died on Tuesday aged 79, after a prolonged illness.
Bangladesh has declared three days of state mourning, while tributes have flowed from world leaders as mourners farewell a politician viewed as a figurehead of the country’s democratic movement.
Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury reports from the capital.
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