"Law and order must be ensured and maintained at any cost in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq," Foreign Minister Morshed Khan told reporters after television channels showed scenes of looting in Baghdad.

Khan said Dhaka was "seriously concerned" about deaths and injuries of journalists covering the war.

"Their safety and security should be ensured as they are informing the whole world about developments in that country," he said.

So far at least 10 journalists have been killed while covering the three-week long war, including two on Tuesday when a US tank fired a shell at a media hotel in Baghdad.

"We are horrified and shocked at the brazen shelling in Baghdad by US forces upon Palestine Hotel ...," said a statement by five media organisations -- the National Press Club, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Bangladesh, Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh, Commonwealth Journalists Association, Bangladesh and the Dhaka Reporters Unity.

"We condemn the invading forces for the murder of the journalists."

Further anti-war demonstrations were staged Wednesday in Bangladesh, the world's third largest Muslim-majority country, which has repeated called for an end to the war.

SPACE.WIRE