The fourth day of the ongoing BNP-led 20-party alliance hartal was relatively peaceful yesterday, without any major incidents in the capital, or elsewhere.
Vehicular movement inside Dhaka was routine, but only a few buses left the terminals for intercity and inter-regional travel.
There were a few attacks outside the capital and a few were injured, but none in Dhaka.
Police detained three people - Abdul Kuddus Fakir said the detainees are Farukh, 30, Mamun, 17, and Kawsar, 17, from different areas in Bangshal with five petrol bombs.
At least 12 BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists were held from Dhaka for 24 hours till the morning for involvement in or for plotting criminal activities in the capital, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in a message released to the media yesterday.
Additionally, RAB-1 detained two from Gulshan 1 with 10 petrol bombs around 7pm yesterday.
Our Shariatpur correspondent reports, three were injured in a crude bomb blast at Nalashan village in the district yesterday. Police alleged the blast occurred while the bomb was being made on the floor of Mohammad Ali’s abandoned poultry farm.
The blast injured Siraj Chowkidar, Masum Munshi, and Rafik Chawkidar who quickly left the scene. Police filed a General Diary about this incident.
In Bhola, police recovered five crude bombs in a raid in Western Para in Bhola Sadar around 12:30am, said Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ramanand Sarkar.
Police arrested four people for allegedly hurling petrol bombs at a truck in Netrokona.
Meanwhile, two criminals were injured but managed to flee the scene after their own cocktail bombs exploded at Nischintopur village in Halsa union of Sadar upazila in Netrokona yesterday afternoon. RAB personnel recovered explosives of cocktail and petrol bombs, along with a foreign-made pistol.
According to our Moulvibazar correspondent, locals caught an Islami Chhatra Shibir activist and set alight a motorcycle, while the five Shibir activists were trying to barricade the Kulaura-Juri road in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar on Wednesday around 1.15 pm.
Four crude bombs were blasted at different places in Rajshahi University from 11am to 12pm.
Borguna correspondent reports that police recovered 11 abandoned petrol bombs from Itbaria village.
Elsewhere in Feni, miscreants hurled petrol bombs yesterday at three buses, setting them ablaze.
Meanwhile, in a separate development in Dhaka, the police reportedly stopped the delivery of food for Khaleda Zia’s associates who had been staying with the BNP chief at her Gulshan office since January 5. Shamsuddin Didar, BNP chairperson’s press wing official, claimed law enforcers barred meals from being delivered at around 8pm yesterday.