Three public vehicles and a private car were set on fire during a busy afternoon in the capital on Sunday.
The arson attacks followed the detention of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal General Secretary Habibur Rashid Habib.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Mobilising Officer Nilufar Yasmin confirmed that four buses were torched in Press club, Sayedabad, Fakirapool and Khilgaon.
A Dhaka Paribahan bus was set ablaze near secretariat, the heart of administration, sometime around 4:14pm.
A Balaka Paribahan bus was torched near Sayedabad Bridge at 5pm, a Unique Paribahan bus in Fakirapool around 5:20pm and a private car was burned in Khilgaon sometime near 4:15pm.
Several units of the fire service were dispatched to put out the fires, the official added.
Intelligence sources said the attacks were carried out by Chhatra Dal, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Witnesses said several people were injured during the attacks. However, details were not available immediately.
This was the first working Sunday in four weeks because of hartal spells in the three previous weeks.
The arson attacks were carried out at a time when there is a rush of traffic for home-goers after a long working day at office.