A five-year-old kid has become the latest victim of mindless political violence as his left wrist and two fingers of the right hand were blown off while fiddling with a cocktail mistaking it for a ball in Rajshahi city yesterday.
Victim Mahin Hossain’s eyesight was also damaged as he sustained splinter injuries to his face. The incident took place around 1pm when he went to the Awami League’s ward 15 office in New Market area and picked up the hand bomb wrapped in red tape.
“He found the crude bomb in an abandoned condition under the staircase. As it exploded, he lost the left hand and two fingers of the right,” said Ziaur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Boalia police station.
“We suspect that the bomb was kept there by miscreants,” he said ruling out the probability of keeping those by the ruling Awami League men.
In the capital’s Wari, Ruhul Amin, 15, too sustained cocktail injuries. The police claimed that he was hurt while hurling the bomb in Swamibagh area. Four teenagers took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 3pm. They left him there in a hurry after admission.
In-charge of DMCH police camp Mozammel Haque told reporters that Ruhul, who works at a garage in Swamibagh, had been injured while carrying the hand bomb.
Apart from these incidents, the first day of the BNP-led 18-party opposition combine’s 83-hour road, rail and waterways blockade was marked with stray incidents of violence, arson and vandalism in several districts.
In Bogra, unknown miscreants hurled six crude bombs targeting a Ganajagaran Mancha gathering at Satmatha intersection leaving five people including two policemen injured around 11am. Around 150 activists of the platform gathered there to form a human chain demanding severing diplomatic relations with Pakistan for expressing concern over the execution of war criminal Abdul Quader Molla, said Gaziur Rahman, assistant superintendent of police in Bogra (sadar circle).
At Matidali, the law enforcers nabbed a picket, Jahinur Rahman, 20, red handed while vandalising a truck. A mobile court jailed him for one year.
The blockade supporters also torched four trucks carrying vegetables in Fatki Bridge area under Shajahanpur upazila and vandalised around 30 vehicles around 6:30pm. Earlier, they set fire to a lorry in Atli area of the town.
Meanwhile, miscreants removed a fishplate near Shararchar Railway Station in Kishoreganj halting communication with Dhaka for two hours early yesterday, reports our correspondent.
Station Master Jayanta Kumar Majumder said Dhaka-bound Egaro Shindhur Express delayed for nearly two hours at the station and left for the capital around 8:00am after the rail tracks were repaired.
The opposition men also torched seven vehicles and vandalised more than 40. They also brought out processions in Narayanganj, Chittagong, Sirajganj, Natore, Gaibandha and Pabna districts in favour of the blockade.
Quoting Officer-in-charge of Bangabandhu Bridge police station (west) Aminul Islam, our Sirajganj correspondent reports that the blockaders beat up the driver’s assistant of a truck before setting it on fire and snatched money from him. They also set fire to two goods-laden trucks on Dhaka-Sirajganj highway at the west approach road of the bridge two hours before the beginning of the blockade.
In Chittagong, blockaders in the guise of passengers boarded a CNG-run auto-rickshaw and torched it in front of Bangladesh Mohila Samity Girls’ School and College near Wasa intersection around 7:30am, said Atiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Chawkbazar police station.
In Narayanganj, the BNP men vandalised at least five vehicles hurling bricks in Tarabo area in Rupganj around 8:00am, said Md Asaduzzaman, OC of Rupganj police station.
A correspondent from Natore reports that the blockaders vandalised 30 trucks and buses on Dhaka-Natore and Natore-Rajshahi highways in Gurudaspur and sadar upazilas. Drivers of the damaged vehicles claimed that the blockaders attacked amid police presence while Nahid Hossain, additional SP in Natore, denied the allegation. The BNP men from a procession also set fire to the slippers of rail tracks pouring petrol in Station Bazar area.
In Pabna, the opposition men set fire to four coaches at Maheshpur of Palashbari. A chase and counter-chase took place as BGB men reached there around 12:30pm. A mobile court sentenced Shibir activist Hasibur Rahman to three month’s jail when the Jamaat’s student wing supporters hurled bricks at vehicles going to Pabna under police escort.
In Gazipur, the BNP supporters from a procession blasted several crude bombs.
The blockaders went on a rampage at different points on Dhaka-Rangpur highway in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha and set fire to four buses at Jundaha. They also vandalised at least three vehicles leaving 20 passengers injured. The opposition supporters also vandalised 16 moving vehicles in Moheshpur and Dreamland areas on the highway.
Few incidents in capital
A large number of vehicles including private cars were seen on the city roads yesterday. From Mohakhali Bus Terminal, a few buses left for nearby districts under police escort while launch and train communications were almost normal.
At Bangla Bazar in Old Dhaka, the Shibir activists of Jagannath University unit blasted five crude bombs from a procession. At least 15 hand bombs were exploded at Rayshaheb Bazar intersection and 13 in Dholaikhal area in the morning.
A covered van and a human haulier were set on fire at Jatrabari by the agitating Shibir men who also exploded around 50 crude bombs when they brought out brisk processions at different parts of the capital. Two Shibir activists were detained at Shonir Akhra and two others at Banglabazar.