A Gaibandha teacher was killed, a Comilla train derailed and buses and shops fire-bombed yesterday as the BNP and its allies unleashed a programme of arson and violence across the country in the name of enforcing the blockade.
On the fifth day of the indefinite blockade, violence in the capital and other districts yesterday left at least three people with burn injuries and one dead. Vehicles were vandalised and torched during the enforcement of the blockade.
The head teacher of Chhoto Bhagavanpur Government Primary School in Gaibandha, Altaf Hossain, 50, died at Rangpur Medical Collage Hospital yesterday. Miscreants vandalised three passenger buses, 20 three-wheelers and torched a cotton-laden truck on the Dhaka-Rangpur Highway. Police hurled 70 rounds of bullets and arrested four Chhatra Shibir activists in this regard, confirmed officer in charge of Polashbari police station Mujibur Rahman.
Officer-in-Charge of Govindaganj police station ABM Jahidul Islam said a case had been filed against 100 activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir.
In Comilla, miscreants cut away three feet of railway track near Nangalkot Railway Station, causing a train to be derailed around 5am on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway line.
Four wheels of a train carriage and two wheels of the engine of the Chittagong-bound Godhuli Express went off the tracks. Railway links were restored after six hours, at 11am.
OC of Laksham Government Railway Police station Ahsan Habib said a four-member probe committee had been formed after the incident. Police are preparing to file a case, he said.
In Dhaka’s Rampura area, attackers hurled two Molotov cocktails at the Bangladesh Television building around 1:45pm, witnesses said.
Sub-Inspector Enamul Hossain of Rampura police station said no one was injured when one of the explosives went off in a flower pot in front of the building and the other exploded nearby.
No arrests were made, he said.
Assailants hurled three Molotov cocktails before an office of the Awami League in Gulistan of the capital. Police held Sadik Ahmed, 24, in this regard.
Paltan police Sub-Inspector Shawkat Hossain said: “Sadik exploded the cocktail before the Awami League officer around 2:30pm and police, with the help of locals, arrested him. A case has been filed against him.”
In the capital’s Tejgaon area, one person suffered burns when miscreants torched a bus around 7:30am near the Tejgaon Mohila College.
The injured man is Amulya Barman, 45, a rickshaw puller. Another rickshaw puller who was with Amulya, Anil Chandra, said: “We live in the Singboard area of Siddhirganj in Narayanganj. We are going to Panchagarh.”
He said they were going to Gabtoli on a local bus when two youths on a motorcycle torched the bus and fled the scene. Amulya’s face and hands were burned badly.
Assistant Sub-Inspector of Tejgaon police station Khorshed Alam said the injured man was rushed to the Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Around 5:45am miscreants torched a Belal Paribahan passenger bus at Shahbagh square.
Bus driver Nurul Islam said two youths got into the bus at the Press Club and sat in the back seat.
As the bus crossed Matsya Bhaban, passenger noticed a fire inside the bus but the two youths had jumped off and fled the scene.
Around a dozen passengers were inside the bus during the incident. Sub-Inspector of Shahbagh police station said no one had been injured.
In the evening, around 6:25pm, four crude bombs were exploded in the Panthapath area of the capital. One bomb went off inside a shop called Orchid Glass and Thai Aluminium.
Sumon, 28, an employee of the shop, was injured in the attack.
In the Madhya Badda area of Dhaka, miscreants torched a three-wheel auto rickshaw yesterday evening. A fire service team rushed to the spot and doused the fire, confirmed Shahzadi Sultana, Fire Service and Civil Defence duty officer.
In Barisal, police dispersed pro-blockade pickets yesterday in the morning in the Kawnia area of the city, said Kazi Mahbub, Kawnia police station officer-in-charge.
Law enforcement agencies were patrolling the city ready to bring any situation under control, Shoaib Ahmed, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Barisal Metropolitan Police said.
Blockaders allegedly torched a passenger bus in the Dhulipara area of the Moulvibazar-Bralekha Road of Brahminbazar under Kulaura upazila of the district yesterday.
According to locals and police sources, as the Moulvibazar-bound bus from Kulaura reached Dhulipara point, a group of blockaders chanted slogans and stopped the bus.
At this stage, passengers of the bus got down hurriedly and blockaders set the bus on fire. They also attacked several CNG-run auto-rickshaws at the spot.
Confirming the incident, Amol Kumar Dhar, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kulaura police station, said a case would soon be filed.
A bus was torched in Magura on Friday night, Magura Assistant Police Superintendent, Shudarshan Kumar Roy, said.
Around 11:30pm Friday, miscreants set fire to a bus in Vian Square in Magura town.
Miscreants set fire to the parked bus while its supervisor was sleeping in it. Realising the bus was on fire, he jumped to safety after breaking through a glass window. A case is yet to be filed in this connection, he said.
In Chapainawabganj, two bus helpers received burn injuries from Molotov cocktail explosions. The injured are Abdur Rahim, 48, and Masud, 18. Police sources said miscreants hurled explosives at 11 goods-laden trucks while crossing the Consat Bazar area.
The injured were taken to Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital.