Some US lawmakers urge sanctions on Quader, Kamal

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters): Some lawmakers in the US Congress have urged sanctions on Bangladeshi officials under Sheikh Hasina who recently quit as prime minister and fled, while the US government has formally welcomed the appointment of a new caretaker government there.

An interim government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday with the aim of holding elections in the Asian nation.

Bangladesh was engulfed by demonstrations and violence after student protests last month against quotas that reserved a high portion of government jobs for certain groups.

The demonstrations escalated into a campaign to oust Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election which the opposition boycotted and which the US State Department said was not free and fair.

Hasina's exit came after at least 300 people, many of them students, were killed in a crackdown on demonstrations.