At least 19 people were injured and some nine vehicles were set ablaze in the capital and elsewhere yesterday, the second day of the fresh spell of a 72-hour general strike imposed by the BNP amid the non-stop blockade.
Three passengers of a bus carrying Janata Bank staff sustained injuries when a crude bomb hurled at the vehicle exploded in Jatrabari around 9:30am.
The three left Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) after they were given first aid, said Inspector Mozammel Haque, in-charge of the hospital’s police camp.
Around 4pm, two private cars parked in front of a hotel in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar were set on fire and a some crude bombs were also blasted.
Some crude bombs were blasted near GPO in Gulistan around 6:30pm, leaving three men injured.
Of them, two were given first aid at the DMCH and the other was admitted to the hospital.
In Gazipur, a bus of Probhati-Banasree Paribahan was torched in Bormi of Sreepur around midday, leaving at least 10 passengers injured. But no one was burnt in the arson attack.
Abdul Mannan, driver of the bus, said some three to four young men carried out the attack and fled.
But Officer-in-Charge of Sreepur police station Mohsinul Qadir said police were examining whether the bus caught fire because of engine problems.
Two buses were set alight at Tetulia bus stand in Panchagarh and two local Awami League offices at Jagdal Bazar and Tunirhat in the district were also torched early in the morning.
Locals said the buses - Sayem Sapnil and Joy Sekhar – were badly damaged in the arson attack.
The Awami League offices were torched around an hour later by some five to six men who came on two motorcycles.
Three Ansar members – Moslem, 26, Amirul Haque, 48, and Zamirul Islam, 20 – were injured when they chased the attackers, who were fleeing the scene.
Panchagarh Police Super Abul Kalam Azad said operations were underway to nab the arsonists.
In Feni’s Aziz Fazilpur, a bus of Sugandha Paribahan was set on fire around 7am but no one was injured.
The arsonists, who boarded the bus under the guise of passengers, forced the driver to stop the vehicle and set it ablaze after pouring petrol.
Md Abu Faisal, officer-in-charge of Daganbhuiyan police station, said the bus was travelling to Sonapur of Noakhali from Feni.
Unidentified miscreants set fire to two trucks in Arulia area of Bogra Sadar upazila around 5:45am. No injury was reported in the attack.
Rafiqul Islam, driver of one of the trucks, said his fish-laden vehicle was destined for Natore.
“The other truck was set ablaze around the same time and the arsonists fled the scene quickly,” he added.
In Dinajpur, a petrol bomb was thrown at a truck on Dinajpur-Dhaka highway in Nawabganj upazila early in the morning.
The Dinajpur-bound truck, which was travelling from Sirajganj, was firebombed in Bhaduria area around 6am.
“No one was injured in the attack,” said Amirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Nawabganj police station, adding that firefighters from Hili Fire Service Station arrived on the scene shortly and put the fire out.
In Joypurhat, miscreants blasted two crude bombs in front of a branch of Islami Bank and smashed the windows of a diagnostic centre.
After a while, a group of 10-14 men went on a rampage in the district’s Amtoli area and wrecked several business establishments, creating panic among the locals.
Police also detained 14 activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Chhatra Shibir from different parts of the capital yesterday on charges of plotting subversion.
Of the detainees, seven are BNP men while the rest are Jamaat and Shibir activists.
