At least 10 more people were killed and scores of others injured om Wednesday, the second day opposition alliance’s countrywide blockade programme, raising the death toll to 18 since the Election Commission had announced the polls schedule on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, the BNP-led 18-party combine om Wednesday extended the rail-road-waterway blockade until 5am tomorrow.
Among the deceased, two BNP-Jamaat men were shot dead in Sirajganj. A Jamaat man was killed in Jessore, another Jamaat man and a housewife in Satkhira, a ruling party-backed Union Parishad member in Gazipur and two persons in Chittagong.
Anwara Begum, 50, an employee of National Bank, and Mozammel Haque, 20, a human-hauler driver, succumbed to injuries om Wednesday. They were injured in bomb attacks on Tuesday.
Moreover, several hundred people, including policemen, were injured during incidents when pickets, mainly from BNP and Jamaat, locked into fierce clashes with the law enforcers and the Awami League supporters. The opposition supporters, armed with bombs, homemade weapons, also engaged in vandalism and arson attacks on vehicles.
On Tuesday, eight people were killed across the country. Of them, two were ruling party men, one was Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member while the others were general people.
In Sirajganj, Masum Billah, 25, joint secretary of ward three unit Chhatra Dal, and Maulana Abdul Jalil, 55, a upazila-level Jamaat leader, were killed in a tripartite clash at Mukundugachhi Bazar in Belkuchi upazila om Wednesday morning.
Separate processions brought out by the Awami League and the BNP-Jamaat men led to the clash, witnesses said. Police fired rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the activists leaving the two dead and around 50 people injured.
A Jamaat leader was gunned down at his Jessore New Town residence around 7:30 pm. A marine engineer by profession, Abdul Hye Siddiqui Bulbul, 35, was the secretary of New Town unit Jamaat.
Emdadul Haque Sheikh, officer-in-charge, Kotwali police station told the Dhaka Tribune that unidentified miscreants had killed the Jamaat man inside his residence.
In protest, Jessore district unit Jamaat announced a daylong general strike for today.
In Satkhira, Jamaat activist Shamsur Rahman, 35, was shot dead and many others injured in a clash with a joint team of police, BGB and Rab at Shialdanga village in Sadar upazila early om Wednesday.
A day before, the Jamaat-Shibir men had killed two ruling party men in Kolaroa.
OC Enamul Huq of Satkhira police station said the clash had ensued as Jamaat-Shibir men gathered people through loudspeaker announcement and attacked the lawmen. He said police had gone to the village around 4am to arrest killers of the two ruling party men.
Satkhira district unit Jamaat chief Abdul Khaleque Mandal om Wednesday called a half-day hartal for today in the district protesting the death of Shamsur Rahman.
Housewife Ambia Khatun, 30, died after she had fallen under a tree, which was cut by Jamaat-Shibir men to block Satkhira-Jessore Road at Gopinathpur in Kolaroa, around 12:30pm.
Ambia died on the spot while she was standing on the road in front of her house.
Gazipur’s Jamalpur UP member Kamal Hossain, 40, also a former president of Jamalpur Chhatra League unit, was stabbed to death at Chupair in Kaliganj upazila in the morning.
Ten others were also injured in the tripartite clash among the activists of BNP-Jamaat and AL, and the police, said ASP (circle) Shariar Al Mamun of Gazipur police.
Mohammad Shahed, 20, passenger of an easy bike, was injured at Thakurdighi Bazar of Satkania upazila in Chittagong around 7pm when the pickets threw a hand bomb at the vehicle.
Critically injured, he was brought to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, but died there around 10:20pm, said Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam of the hospital camp. Mother of the victim was also injured in the attack. She was undergoing treatment at Satkania Upazila Health Complex.
In Patia, human hauler driver Mohammad Ershad, 22, was killed when his vehicle overturned being chased by blockaders at Fakinirhat on Chittagong-Anwara road in the afternoon.
Witnesses said Ershad had sustained serious injuries. He died at the CMCH.
In Dhaka, more than 50 people, including several journalists, were injured in separate attacks while several vehicles were torched and around 50 others were vandalised.
Bomb attacks were reported in some areas where the blockade supporters brought out brisk processions.
Of the incidents, at least 10 people were injured in bomb attacks in Chankharpool last night while 10 others, including two policemen, sustained injuries in a clash at North Badda, three injured in Pallabi, five in Khilgaon and six in Jatrabari.
In Sutrapur, police arrested a youth identified as Md Faisal with petrol allegedly during his attempt to set an auto-rickshaw on fire at Laxmibazar in the afternoon.
Two journalists of a private television channel were injured when Islami Chhatra Shibir men set an auto-rickshaw on fire in Pallabi.
Panicked by violent attacks and sabotages, communication through road, rail and waterways remained almost suspended cutting capital Dhaka off from across the country om Wednesday when offices, business establishments, educational institutions saw thin presence.
An innumerable number of crude bombs were blasted across the country while police fired several hundred rounds of rubber bullets and teargas canisters and arrested around 100 pickets.
As part of sabotages, pickets set fire to railway compartments, removed slippers, tracks, fishplates and elastic clips causing derailments of trains and snapping communications in Gazipur, Chandpur, Lalmonirhat, Rajbari, Munshiganj and Sylhet.
Moreover, the engine and five compartments of Ognibeena Express were derailed early om Wednesday snapping train communication on Dhaka-Mymensingh route. The blockade supporters had removed nuts from fishplates, and pins and slippers of the railway tracks.
Rajendrapur Railway Station Master Saiful Islam said movements of Tista Express, Bhaowal Express and all the commuter trains remained suspended although the salvage works were on.
In Noakhali, over 100 people, including two policemen, were injured in tripartite clashes among BNP-Jamaat, AL and the law enforcers in Begumganj. Police fired 200 rounds of bullets and 50 teargas canisters.
Around 50 people, including five policemen, were injured in a clash at Eliotganj on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Comilla around 11am. Police fired over 100 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas shells, and arrested six persons.
In Sylhet, more than 10 passengers of Dhaka-bound intercity train “Jayantika Express” were injured as pickets had hurled brick at them near Paraichowk at 10am. Some 10 people were also injured in a clash in Gopalganj upazila.
At Kuadabazar on Jessore-Monirampur Road, Shibir men cut off tendons of a local Jubo League leader around 11:30am.
Hailing from Ramnagar union in Sadar upazila, Nazmul is the president of ward eight unit Jubo League. He was first attacked with bombs, mercilessly hit by bricks and later his tendons were cut off.
Meanwhile, around 20 people, including four police officials, were injured in a clash with Jamaat on Jessore-Satkhira road in the same area around 2pm.
In Barisal, at least seven policemen among around 20 people were injured in a clash at Kashipur Bazar of the city in the morning when the pickets set five vehicles on fire and damaged several others.
A compartment of Rajbari-Bhatiyapa intercity express was set on fire at 8am near Rajbari Station forcing train service in the route suspended.
A truck and a bus were torched at Goalanda ferry terminal early om Wednesday.
Moreover, around 10 people were injured and 10 vehicles damaged in Nilphamari; more than 10 people injured and eight vehicles damaged in Habiganj; four injured in Cox’s Bazar; 10 in Natore; 15 in Narsingdi; 30 in Manikganj; 20 in Chandpur and 25 people were injured in Jhenidah.