Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigns after month of ...

Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after weeks of deadly anti-government protests.

Military chief Waker-Uz-Zaman confirmed in a televised address that she left the Bangladesh capital for a "place of safety".

He said he would form an interim government after holding talks with Ms Hasina's main opposition party and civil society members, but not her Awami League.

"I am taking full responsibility," Mr Waker said.

"The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed. it is time to stop the violence."

"I hope after my speech, the situation will improve."

Mr Waker vowed the new authorities would "prosecute all murders" after the weeks of deadly protests.

"If the situation gets better, there is no need for emergency," he said.

"Now the task of the students is to keep calm and help us."

Ms Hasina and her sister have reportedly landed in a military helicopter in the eastern Indian city of Argatala and the Indian government is expected to offer her safe passage.

A source close to Ms Hasina said she left first by motorcade but then was flown out, without disclosing her destination.

"Her security team asked her leave. She did not find any time to prepare."

"She was later evacuated on a helicopter."

Local media reports thousands of people have entered Ganabhaban, the prime minister's residence.

Television visuals showed crowds in the drawing rooms of the residence. Some people could be seen carrying away televisions, chairs and tables from what was one of the most protected buildings in the country.

"She has fled the country, fled the country," some shouted.

Bangladeshi newspaper the Business Standard estimated as many as 400,000 protesters were on the streets but it was impossible to verify the figure.

The vast crowds flooded the streets and tore down police barriers.(Reuters: Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

Soldiers and police using armoured vehicles and barbed wire barricaded routes to Ms Hasina's office in Dhaka on Monday morning, but the vast crowds flooded the streets and tore down the barriers.

Bangladesh's Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the compound and waving to the camera as they celebrated.

Protesters in Dhaka also climbed atop a large statue of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ms Hasina's father, and began chiselling away at the head with an axe.

"The time has come for the final protest," Asif Mahmud, one of the key leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, said.

Thousands of people have entered Ganabhaban, the Bangladesh prime minister's residence.(Reuters: Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

Bangladeshi newspaper the Daily Star reports at least six people have been killed in Monday's clashes between protesters and police in the Jatrabari and Dhaka Medical College areas.

Before the protesters stormed the compound, Ms Hasina's son urged the country's security forces to block any takeover and end her 15-year rule.

"Your duty is to keep our people safe and our country safe and to uphold the constitution," her son, US-based Sajeeb Wazed Joy, said in a post on Facebook.

"It means don't allow any unelected government to come in power for one minute, it is your duty."

The deadly protests began in July as a student movement against civil service job quotas.

The quota scheme reserved more than half of government jobs in Bangladesh for certain groups.

Ms Hasina promised last year to turn all of Bangladesh into a "prosperous and developed country" but about 18 million young Bangladeshis are out of work, according to government figures.

The demonstrations escalated despite the scheme being scaled back by Bangladesh's top court, having evolved to reflect broader frustrations about the economy, corruption and the country's authoritarian turn under Ms Hasina's government.  

The anti-government movement attracted people from across society in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people, including film stars, musicians and singers.

Security forces supported Ms Hasina's government throughout the unrest, but the protesters defied curfews and deadly force.

Sunday marked the deadliest day of the unrest, with at least 94 people killed, 14 of whom were police officers.

Protesters and government supporters countrywide battled each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opened fire.

The day's violence took the total number of people killed since the protests began to at least 300, according to an AFP tally based on data from police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.

"Let's be clear: the walls are closing in on Hasina. She's rapidly losing support and legitimacy," Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AFP.

"The protests have taken on immense momentum, fuelled by raw anger but also by the confidence that comes with knowing that so much of the nation is behind them."

A respected former army chief demanded the government "immediately" withdraw troops and allow protests.

"Those who are responsible for pushing people of this country to a state of such an extreme misery will have to be brought to justice," ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan told reporters on Sunday.

She first served as prime minister in 1996 but lost to Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) five years later.

The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years.

Both Ms Hasina and Ms Zia were imprisoned on corruption charges in 2007 after the coup.

But the charges were dropped and they contested an election the following year, which Ms Hasina won in a landslide. She had been in power ever since.

Five top Islamist leaders and a senior opposition figure were executed over the past decade after convictions for crimes against humanity committed during the brutal 1971 liberation war.

"Over 15 years, I've built this country," she told reporters.

"What didn't I do for the people?"