At least one died and scores of leaders and activists of several political parties injured Thursday as the rival parties engaged in fights, torched offices and blasted handmade bombs in a number of incidents in and outside the capital.
Deceased Rafiqul Islam alias Kala Mia, 38, was the vice-president of ward eight Jubo League of Amirabad union of Sonagazi in Feni. Law enforcers recovered his body tied to a tree near Mayanagar Bazar on Thursday morning.
Local Union Parishad Chairman Zahirul Islam, also a former Chhatra League leader, alleged that the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami cadres had picked him up from his home around 2am on Thursday. They had tied him up with a tree, stabbed and beat him to death.
At noon, miscreants blasted 20 hand bombs on Trunk Road in Shahid Minar area of the town, only 100 yards far from the Feni model police station.
In Dhaka, unknown miscreants gutted furniture, portraits of the father of the nation and the prime minister, and electric equipment inside the Banani thana unit Awami League office and the Jubo League office near Wireless Gate of Mohakhali in the morning. No one was injured in the incidents.
Law enforcers detained Shahidullah, 22, and Mehedi, 24, from Banani and claimed that they were activists of Jamaat-Shibir.
Witnesses said some 10 youths torched the Jubo League office around 5:30am. They used some liquid substances to torch the office.
Police and witnesses said some 20 youths brought out a procession at Badda and lit some clothes they brought with them in front of the office Awami League office around 6pm. They also hurled two hand bombs when police chased them.
The Chhatra Shibir activists also vandalised windshields of several buses and CNG-run auto-rickshaws from a procession at Demra in the capital.
In Chittagong, a Chhatra Shibir activist was injured while making bombs at Talimul Quran Academy in Jamalpur area of Mirersarai upazila at 4:30am.
Critically injured Mohammad Alamgir, 22, along with four others who were making the explosives managed to flee the scene, said Iftekhar Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Jorargonj police station.
Police also recovered huge quantity of gunpowder, petrol and other bomb-making equipment from the spot. The tin-shed room was totally damaged in the blast.
Alamgir’s younger brother Mokter Hossain, 19, was arrested in this connection and a case was lodged, the OC told the Dhaka Tribune.
In the afternoon, four people were injured in a clash between police and activists of BNP and its associate bodies when they brought out processions and attempted to hold rallies under the banner of pro-BNP organisation Sammilito Peshajibi Parishad in Wasa area defying a ban on gatherings. Police detained five persons. Three vehicles were vandalised during the hour-long unrest.
Contacted, Banaz Kumar Majumder, additional commissioner (crime and operation) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told Dhaka Tribune that the ban on rallies would continue.
In Netrakona, at least 20 BNP and Awami League activists were injured in a clash at Teligati Bazar under Atpara upazila of Netrakona on Wednesday night.
In Rangpur, activists of Chhatra Shibir allegedly hurled three hand bombs on a rally of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal at the Park intersection. Locals caught and handed over three activists of Begum Rokeya University Shibir to police. A petrol bomb was also seized from the spot, said Syed Shahabuddin, OC of Kotwali police station.
In Bandarban, leaders of Awami League allegedly grabbed the house of the BNP’s district unit leader Md Fazlul Kabir and put up a signboard of a club named “Amra Mujib Shena” on the door. The attackers were led by President of the club Anwar.
In Barisal, BNP activists damaged a covered van in West Kawnia Weather Office area in the evening. Hundreds of activists of the BNP and the Awami League also brought out motorcycle processions on the city’s main roads.