Bangkok - Thailand's government is investigating reports that a boatload of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar were set adrift in an overcrowded boat by border officials in December, allegedly resulting in many deaths, the foreign ministry said Friday.

Thailand remains committed to "humanitarian principles," even in the face of the "increasing urgency" and the "increasing size" of human trafficking in the region, the statement added.

Dhaka - Violent clashes between two groups of activists belonging to the student wings of the ruling Awami League and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party left at least 25 people injured at Jahangirnagar University Friday, police said.

During the clashes, which erupted mainly because of attempts to establish control over the dormitories of the university, the students traded at least 30 gunshots, according to police, but no-one received bullet wounds.

Rival groups beat each other with hockey-sticks, rods and other weapons.

Dhaka- Several hundred Muslim devotees clashed inside Bangladesh's National Mosque during their weekly congregation Friday over the appointment of a new Khatib, who delivers sermons, leaving a few disciples injured, police and witnesses said.

Police said a group of people aligned to certain religion-based political groups raised a hue and cry inside the mosque while the newly appointed Khatib, Mohammad Salahuddin, started giving his sermon ahead of the weekly Jumma prayer in the capital Dhaka.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's opposition leader Khaleda Zia Thursday promised to play a constructive role in parliament, which is scheduled to convene later this month.

"We want to help the government. But the government must reciprocate," Zia, who was formally endorsed leader of the opposition in parliament by deputies from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) at a meeting immediately after they were sworn in as lawmakers Thursday.

The BNP was defeated in general elections late last month, securing only 30 out of 300 parliamentary seats.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 15 : Bangladesh''s High Commissioner to Malaysia M. Khairuzzaman has been ordered to return home to face charges over the 1975 assassination of the country''s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The New Strait Times quoted Bangladesh's Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud as saying that: "A faxed copy is being sent to Khairuzzaman as we speak."

The trial, Hasan told the New Straits Times, would start "very soon". He said Foreign Minister Dipu Moni signed the recall order.

When contacted, Khairuzzaman, 57, declared the case as "political victimisation".

"I''m very anxious, these are baseless allegations," he said.

Dhaka- Bangladesh on Wednesday strongly condemned the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip that has killed hundreds of civilians.

"We are appalled by the scale of devastation and the deaths of innocent Palestinians including women and children in the attacks," a foreign ministry statement.

The government called for humanitarian workers to be allowed full and access to the Palestinian population in need of food, medicine, water, electricity and shelter.