Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said the country's situation is gradually becoming normal and the curfew would be lifted soon.

He said this in response to a query of Gwyn Lewis, UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh.

"We are expecting that we will be able to bring the situation to normalcy within a short time. We will be able to withdraw the curfew soon. The army will also go back to barracks," said the minister.

After a meeting with Lewis at the secretariat, the minister spoke to the media.

He said the UN resident coordinator asked him about the use of armored personnel carriers (APC) with the UN insignia.

"I informed her that the army might have used the APCs with UN logo unintentionally, but when it came to light, those vehicles were not used anymore. No operational activities were conducted by those vehicles."

He said the UN also wanted to know about the killing of a teenager.

Asaduzzaman said the age of the said teen is yet to be known. They came to know from his school records that he was seventeen and a half years old.

"He was involved in the crime of killing a cop in Jatrabari," he said.

They have identified him through video evidence, said the minister, adding that after the cop was killed and hanged, the teen also contacted his handler.

He said the boy is now in a correction centre as per the existing law.

Regarding the loss of lives, he said, "Our police and security forces were forced to fire to protect lives and property. They acted with patience."

"The miscreants put forth children and stayed behind during the violence. As they [miscreants] started throwing bricks and blasting crude bombs, police were forced to use tear gas. When the violence escalated, police had to take other steps that left a number of people killed," said the minister.