Khaleda Zia: Huge crowds mourn Bangladesh's first female PM at state funeral

A sea of mourners have gathered in Dhaka to pay final respects to Khaleda Zia, who died on Tuesday aged 80.

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Zia, who was the country's first female prime minister, died on Tuesday from a prolonged illness. She was 80.

The mourners held out their hands in prayer and carried flags printed with her photographs as a motorcade carrying Zia's body - including the hearse wrapped with the national flag - drove on streets near the parliament house.

Flags were flown at half-mast and thousands of security officers were deployed.

"I have come this far just to say goodbye. I know I won't be able to see her face, but at least I could see the [vehicle] carrying her for the last rites," Setara Sultana, an activist from Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), told the BBC.