At least one person has been killed and five other received severe burns when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a pickup van at Jatramura on Dhaka-Sylhet Highway of Rupganj upazila in the district on Friday night.
The deceased is Kabir Sheikh, 40, while the injured are Helal Uddin (35), Sohel Mia (22), driver of the pickup van Abdus Salam (25), Rashed (25) and Belal Hosain (27).
All the injured are workers of Jalalabad Iron Market at Dulairpar, Jatrabari.
Witnesses said the workers came under attack while returning to Jatrabari from Jatramura.
They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Burn Unit, where Kabir succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment, said DMCH police outpost In-charge Mozammel Haque.
Since the blockade began on January 6, a total of 150 arson victims have been treated and released at the burn institute, while 45 are currently undergoing treatment, sources said.
So far, more than 80 people have died and scores have been injured in different parts of the country in violence during the BNP-led alliance enforced non-stop blockade.
Of this violence, a large number of arson attacks are being conducted on highways. Hundreds of vehicles, including those belonging to law-enforcers, were attacked and burnt.
For most of the day, the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced blockade and hartal had little impact on the lives of the people on its 53rd day, aside from a few stray incidents of violence across the country.
Law enforcers continued a crackdown on alleged anarchists in different parts of the country.
In the capital, city dwellers experienced traffic jams on the roads, a sign of relative normalcy.
Crowds of people were seen on the streets attending to their daily tasks.
The BNP led 20-party alliance has been enforcing a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 5 in protest against the “confinement” of party chief Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda Zia had been kept confined to her Gulshan party office since January 3 ahead of a party rally, marking “Democracy Killing Day.”
On January 12, the security was relaxed.
But Khaleda never came out; instead she said in a press conference that she was going to stay there and the blockade would continue unless the government took the first steps towards a solution.
