Arson attacks and blockade-related violence continued on the 30th day of the BNP-led 20-party-enforced blockade yesterday, while police drives across the country apprehended a large number of alleged anarchists.
In Gazipur, at least five people including two children were burnt when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus near the Gazipur Police Lines. The victims – Sabuj, 2; Rakib, 12; Nurunnabi, 26; Manjurul Islam, 32; Sohel Rana, 34 – have been admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Four more were also hurt while trying to rush out of the bus.
Shahin Alam, station officer of Joydebpur Fire Station, quoted locals as saying that the Gazipur-bound Balaka Paribahan bus was attacked by several young men at around 8pm, while the arsonists managed to flee the scene soon after the attack, reports our Gazipur correspondent.
In Gaibandha’s Dhaperhat area, miscreants suspected to be hartal-enforcing pickets hurled a crude bomb inside a bus, injuring at least three people.
Kona Khatun, 20, Baby Begum, 25, and Shahidul Islam, 45, were hurt when the Dhaka-bound bus they were on was attacked near the Five-Star intersection in Dhaperhat.
Sub-Inspector Jalaluddin of Dhaperhat Bureau of Police Investigation told our Gaibandha correspondent that the three victims were also hurt by the shards of glass from the bus window that was broken when miscreants hurled the bomb at the NR Paribahan bus.
Although a fire broke out inside the bus following the attack, all the passengers were able to evacuate without getting burned.
Meanwhile, in Natore, three men including a driver were injured when pickets hurled crude bombs at a vegetable-carrying truck at Tokiya area in Sadar upazila yesterday.
Police arrested two youths on suspicion of being involved with the attack.
In Jessore, miscreants hurled a crude bomb inside the BGB’s Jhumjhumpur headquarters premises; but no one was hurt in the incident.
Jessore 26 BGB commander Lt Colonel Jahangir Hossain said unidentified miscreants hurled the crude bomb from the headquarters-adjacent road at around 10:30pm. A drive was going on to apprehend the culprits, he added.
In Khulna, Awami League activists supporters brought our procession and rally against the ongoing blockade and hartal, but the 20-party did not stage any such demonstrations.
On Tuesday, pickets hurled two crude bombs at a Dhaka-bound Shohag Paribahan bus at Daulatpur in Khulna around 10am, injuring at least four people, said Shafiqul Islam, OC of Daulatpur police.
Arrests
Police detained 27 BNP-Jamaat activists from several places of Dhaka city from Tuesday afternoon to yesterday morning, some with crude bombs in possession, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said in a press release today.
Besides, two others were caught by police in Hazaribagh while throwing petrol bombs, and two were handed over to police by Chhatra League members at Ahsan Ullah Hall in Buet for allegedly carrying petrol bombs.
Police also caught two pickets hurling crude bombs at the car carrying Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu in the TSC area of Dhaka University.
In Gazipur, police arrested 33 alleged arsonists for attacking Jamalpur Commuter Express on Monday in Sreepur on Monday night and Tuesday, several of them leaders and activists of the 20-party alliance.
In Comilla, four Shibir activists were shot by police around 4am yesterday as they hurled petrol bombs at a police vehicle patrolling the Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Krishnapur, said AKM Manzur Alam, a Detective Branch official. Six DB members were injured in the clash as well.
Police also recovered two revolvers, two rounds of bullet and six petrol bombs from the Shibir men.
However, families of the detained Shibir activists claimed police arrested them from their residences on Tuesday and shot them.
In Noakhali, BNP activists vandalised at least 10 vehicles at Sonaimuri upazila yesterday, while a local BNP leader was arrested in Begumganj upazil on early yesterday.
In Naogaon, police arrested three persons suspected of setting fire to a microbus in Niamatpur around 4am yesterday, said Niamatpur police OC Obaidul Islam.