Sri Lanka, Aug. 6 -- Bangladesh will hold its first elections since protests toppled its former prime minister next February, the country's interim leader said on the anniversary of her overthrow.

Muhammad Yunus made the announcement at the end of a day of celebrations for what some have called the country's "second liberation".

Sheikh Hasina fled to India on 5 August last year, following weeks of student-led protests, bringing an end to 15 years of increasingly authoritarian rule.

Nobel laureate Yunus was brought in to head a caretaker government days later, promising reforms which some say he has struggled to deliver amid continuing political turmoil and a struggle to maintain law and order.

Among the issues dividing the country's p...