Another arson victim succumbed to his injuries yesterday at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), raising to 69 the political violence death toll from January 5.
The victim, Shahidul Islam, 38, from Poba upazila in the district, had been fighting for his life for the last seven days at the RMCH burn unit. He died around 5pm, confirmed the hospital director, Brigadier General AKM Nasir Uddin.
Shahidul, a truck helper, sustained burn injuries at Naodapara in front of Lily Cinema Hall, when pickets hurled petrol bombs on the sand-laden truck on February 2 around 8pm.
“We could not save him as his respiratory system was blistered,” the doctor said. The truck driver, Saidur Rahman, is now undergoing treatment at the hospital burn unit.
Meanwhile, day two of the 72-hour nationwide hartal and blockade, sponsored by the BNP-Jamaat led alliance, was almost peaceful, except for a few incidents of violence. The situation in the capital was almost normal, with little effect on everyday life.
Vehicular movement too was normal. A good number of private car owners ventured out on the roads, defying the hartal. Commuters waited on buses to travel to their workplaces and other destinations in the morning. Only long-distance buses have not left the terminals.
Our Munshiganj correspondent reports, picketers allegedly hurled petrol bombs on a truck carrying books in Gazaria in the morning. Around 5% to 10% of the loaded books were damaged in the attack.
Bijoy Talukdar, Munshiganj police superintendent, said, the Laximpur-bound truck came under attack at the Jamaldi bus stand around 7:30am. Truck driver Harunu-ur-Rashid suffered minor injuries when he jumped off the vehicle after the attack.
Meanwhile, a bus stationed near Old Ferry Ghat at Mawa was set ablaze sometime after midnight, said Tofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Louhajang Police Station. None were hurt in the attack.
Our Feni correspondent said day labourer Nosu Mia, 30, sustained injuries as a crude bomb was blasted at Islampur in the morning. In another incident, a covered-van driver sustained injuries when picketers hurled bricks on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway early yesterday. Police arrested the two alleged picketers in this connection.
At Dhairhat of Naogaon, six people sustained injuries in a clash between BNP and AL activists. Following the clash over the ongoing hartal, AL activists torched the motorbike of an AL supporter, while BNP activists vandalised some vehicles.
At Dhaka University, also in the morning, locals beat up two students for blasting crude bombs near Jagannath Hall, and handed them to RAB.
The detained, Shafiul Shuvo and Harunur Rashid, are graduate students in the Statistics and Arabic literature departments, respectively. They have been accused in a case filed under the Explosives Act, said Sirajul Islam, OC of Shahbagh PS.
Locals caught them red-handed after the crude bombs were blasted near the hall around 8am. Later, they were treated at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, hospital officials said.