Bangladesh said Friday it will deploy thousands of troops next week in an effort to contain deadly political violence ahead of controversial general elections slated for January 5.

Heavily armed troops have already fanned out in major trouble spots across the country but "official deployment" will start December 26, the Election Commission said.

Bangladesh security forces arrested more than 100 protesters on Thursday as they launched a nationwide crackdown on the opposition ahead of the controversial January 5 general election.

Officials said the protesters were detained in joint operations by the police, the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary border guards amid a series of transport blockades called by opposition parties which are boycotting the polls.

Ten more people were killed in Bangladesh Sunday after the execution of a top Islamist leader sparked riots and other protests, as the prime minister warned of a crackdown on the violence.

Police said they opened fire after Islamist supporters torched houses and fought street battles with officers during a third day of unrest over the hanging of Abdul Quader Molla for mass murder during the 1971 war of independence.

Six people were killed in Bangladesh including three protesters who were shot dead by police on Saturday as Islamists vented their fury at the execution of one of their leaders for war crimes.

The deadly clashes erupted two days after the government hanged senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Abdul Quader Molla, for war crimes -- the first person to be executed for his role in the country's bloody 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Bangladesh was rocked by a new wave of deadly violence Friday as Islamist supporters went on the rampage to vent their fury at the execution of one of their leaders for war crimes.

Abdul Quader Molla became the first person to be hanged for his role in the country's bloody 1971 war of independence from Pakistan when he was sent to the gallows at a prison in the capital Dhaka late Thursday.

Bangladesh on Thursday hanged a senior Islamist leader known as the "Butcher of Mirpur," making him the first person to be put to death for massacres committed during the country's bloody 1971 war of independence.

"The execution has been carried out," deputy law minister Quamrul Islam told Agence France Presse, adding that Abdul Quader Molla, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged at 10.01 pm (1601 GMT) in a jail in the capital Dhaka.

Bangladesh's highest court upheld the death penalty for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes, just two days after he was given a dramatic last-minute reprieve from execution.

The Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain "dismissed" Abdul Quader Molla's appeal for a final review of his death sentence, meaning he could now be hanged as early as midnight Thursday.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday to stress the need for talks with the opposition to resolve an election standoff.

The phone calls stepped up diplomatic pressure on Bangladeshi leaders to find a solution to the stalemate amid a worsening of political violence that has left nearly 80 people since late October.

Bangladesh's highest court held a hearing Wednesday to decide the fate of a leading Islamist leader sentenced to death for war crimes who was saved from the gallows by a dramatic last-gasp intervention.

A judge stayed the hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Abdul Quader Molla just 90 minutes before his scheduled execution overnight at a jail in the capital Dhaka.

A Bangladeshi Islamist leader convicted of mass murder and rape during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan will be hanged just after midnight, officials said Tuesday.

Bangladesh's secular government is going ahead with the execution despite a global outcry with two U.N. experts and a rights group saying the 65-year-old leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party should have been allowed to appeal to the country's highest court.