DHAKA Two people were shot dead in violence between rival opposition activists on Saturday despite tight security imposed by Bangladesh ahead of an expected change of government.

The security beef-up followed the dissolution of Parliament late on Friday at the end of its five-year term and threats by opposition parties to impose "people's rule" unless the caretaker authority took over immediately.

Reuters quoted Police as saying the victims were killed in a shootout at a rally of the opposition four-party alliance in Bagerhat district, southwest of the capital Dhaka.

In Dhaka, armed riot police set up security posts at key points on Saturday as Bangladesh awaited the appointment of a caretaker ruler to lead the country to new elections.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hand over power to a caretaker authority, expected to be headed by the former chief justice, Latifur Rahman, who was due to be sworn in by President Shahabuddin Ahmed on Sunday.

Hundreds of opposition supporters protested outside the Presidential Palace in Dhaka on Saturday against what they said was a delay in formally announcing the caretaker administration, witnesses said.

Hasina's government will have been the first in Bangladesh's history to serve its full term.

The Constitution requires that power is handed to a non-party caretaker authority, which will organize elections within three months.

Fears of violence have grown since four people were killed and about 100 wounded in sporadic clashes on Thursday and Friday between activists of Hasina's Awami League and others loyal to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headed by Begum Khaleda Zia, Hasina's predecessor in power.

Khaleda is also chief of the four-party alliance, which includes the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party and the Islami Oikyo Jote, an Islamic group.

Hasina has promised an orderly transfer of power and to keep trying to uphold democracy.

Khaleda told thousands of supporters in Dhaka on Friday night the "nation feels relieved that Hasina's autocratic rule has ended".

"The country's administration will be taken over by the people if the appointment of a caretaker government is delayed," she said.

Paramilitary forces have been called out in several cities, including the Port of Chittagong, to reinforce security.

In the capital, police barricaded roads leading to the often volatile Dhaka University and let teachers and students through only after checking identity cards and bags, witnesses said.

University officials said student supporters of Hasina and Khaleda were preparing for a campus battle on Saturday.

Students play a key role in Bangladeshi politics and rival groups regularly fight each other for control of their campuses.