Subversive activities targeting rail communication, sporadic clashes with law enforcers and rival party men amid arson and vandalism marked the fifth day of blockade enforced by BNP-led 18-party opposition combine yesterday.
At least five persons were killed and 35 injured when a train derailed after miscreants removed fishplates from the rail tracks at Bonarpara of Gaibandha in the early hours. Police detained two Islami Chhatra Shibir men for the sabotage.
The same kind of sabotage left two passenger trains off the track in Khulna and Chandpur leaving train communication in Dhaka-Khulna and Chandpur-Chittagong routes halted. At least 10 passengers were injured in the incident.
On the other hand, violent clashes between BGB and Jubo Dal men in Feni left a person dead and five including three policemen bullet hit.
One person died and 10 other labourers injured when a pick-up van chased by pickets overturned in Binnati area on Kishoreganj-Bhairab highway in the early hours.
Dhaka College student Wahidur Rahman Babu, who sustained burn injuries during the Shahbagh bus arson attack last week, died at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.
Freedom fighter Alauddin Khokon, 62, injured in an attack allegedly by the activists of Jamaat-Shibir at Bhara-Simla village in Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira Tuesday, died at a hospital yesterday morning. BNP called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Gazipur and Manikganj districts while Jubo Dal called hartal in Feni district for today.
In the capital, pickets torched vehicles and exploded crude bombs. Apparently more vehicles were seen on the streets than the previous days. No long-route bus left Dhaka while launch communication was also uninterrupted.
Activists of the ruling Awami League vandalised a private hospital owned by Jamaat at Dhanmondi. However, Ibn Sina Hospital authorities said relatives of a patient along with some outsiders had vandalised the hospital following a row over hospital bill.
In Pallabi, blockaders exploded eight crude bombs at the bus stand and its nearby areas in the morning. Police picked up four Chhatra Dal activists from the spot with four live crude bombs and two bottles of petrol. From Badda, police detained a Swechchhasebak Dal activist with two handmade bombs from Malopara. Later a mobile court sentenced him to one year imprisonment.
Miscreants torched a bus in Tantibazar area of Old Dhaka around 9:15am. No one was injured in the incident. At Gabtoli, blockaders exploded three crude bombs near a police outpost around 10:45am.
In Feni town, Jubo Dal men clashed with the BGB leaving Vice-President of Farhadnagar union unit Harun-Ur-Rashid killed and 50 others injured. The clash erupted as activists of Chhatra League and Jubo League allegedly hurled five crude bombs at a Jubo Dal procession in Trunk Road area around 4:15pm, witnesses said.
Angered by the bomb blasts, hundreds of opposition activists attacked and vandalised roadside shops, banks and police camps. Police and BGB personnel opened fire on the mob. Harun was taken to Feni Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
In Kishoreganj, pick-up van driver Ujjal Sarker was carrying 20 day labourers from Tarakanda area in Mymensingh to Comilla’s Itkhola area. The van overturned as the driver tried to escape the rage of the pickets.
Blockade supporters early yesterday torched the residence of Awami League candidate from Gazipur 1 AKM Mozammel Haque when his family members were asleep. Mozammel is also the president of district unit.
The miscreants set fire to the house with kerosene around midnight. Locals helped douse the fire while no casualty was reported from the arson. Mozammel was not present at home during the incident. In Gazipur town, blockade supporters in the morning clashed with police leaving at least 30 people injured.
In Jhenaidah town, 15 persons including two journalists were injured in a fierce clash at Arappur in the morning. Earlier, the Jamaat-Shibir men attacked the police and vandalised a police car when they went there to arrest an accused. On Kaliganj road in Satkhira, pickets hacked and injured union-level AL leader Abdus Sattar.
In Barisal, 11 persons including two policemen were injured in a clash when the pickets tried to block Dhaka-Barisal highway.
Blockade in Chittagong city was almost peaceful except for the injuries to rickshaw-puller Md Siraj and passenger Md Tareque when the pickets hurled bricks at the vehicle in Buripukur area of Hathazari.