In another act of railway sabotage, miscreants removed two fishplates from railway tracks in Rajshahi’s Godagari, causing a coach and the engine of a train to derail yesterday, also the 40th day of the indefinite blockade imposed by the BNP.
Rail communications on Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj route were suspended after the derailment took place near Lalitnagar Railway Station a little after 12 at night. The train was travelling to Ishwardi from Chapainawabganj.
Abdul Karim, superintendent of Rajshahi Railway Station, said train services resumed around 3pm after a rescue train arrived on the scene and the fishplates were repaired.
But no passenger was injured in the accident, he added.
In the capital, three people sustained injuries when crude bombs were thrown at a moving bus near Mohammadpur Beribadh in the morning.
The victims - Mozammel Haque, Hira Mia, and Nurul Islam - were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where they were given first aid.
Inspector Mozammel, in-charge of the hospital’s police camp, said the bus was bound for Gabtoli from Babubazar when it came under attack around 6am.
A BNP activist, Sujon, was detained from Rampura on charge of setting off a crude bomb in the morning.
Police detained him around 8am when he was fleeing the scene after blasting the bomb in front of Hazipara petrol pump.
Another crude bomb exploded near the BGMEA building in Karwan Bazar when garment owners were on a token hunger strike since morning.
None was injured in the blast but additional police were deployed there to avert any possible untoward situation.
Police detained 30 activists of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Chhatra Shibir from different parts of the capital in 24 hours till yesterday morning. Of them,15 were activists of the BNP and the rest were that of Jamaat and Shibir.
According to a text message from Dhaka Metropolitan Police, they all were held for their suspected involvement in plotting subversion.
Yesterday’s blockade in the capital was mostly peaceful, with a large number of city dwellers using public and private transports to reach their destinations. Private offices and businesses were also open.
Train and water transport services were normal but no long-haul bus left the capital after evening.
In Kishoreganj, arsonists hurled a petrol bomb at a microbus in Chilakara area of Pakundia upazila in the late hours of Friday night but the driver saved his life by jumping out of the window. Locals later put the fire out.
Meanwhile, another 72-hour strike is underway across the country since 6am today amid the blockade.
BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed announced the strike in a statement yesterday noon.
More than 70 people have died, and scores have been injured, in violence in different parts of the country since the indefinite blockade came into effect on January 6.
Besides, more than a thousand vehicles, including freight transports, have been damaged in the violence.
