At least seven people including a member of Border Guard Bangladesh were killed and several hundred injured in violence around the country on the first day of the 48-hour blockade enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance.
The BGB member and a rickshaw-puller were killed in Comilla, a Jubo League leader and a Swechchha Sebok League leader in Satkhira, a Jubo Dal leader in Bogra and a pedestrian in Sirajganj.
Many of the injured who sustained wounds in bomb blasts, arsons and other clashes were said to be in critical conditions.
Road, rail and waterway communications were almost fully snapped due to the countrywide blockade, nearly completely cut off Dhaka from the rest of the country.
Rail communication suffered the most as blockade supporters uprooted tracks and slippers in several places resulting in derailments and injuries to around 100. Train compartments were torched and opposition protesters attacked railway stations, passengers and officials.
Satkhira
Jubo League Deyara union unit leader Mahmudul Hasan Babu, 30, was hacked to death around 11am on Tursday. He was on his way to his shop on his motorbike when opposition men pounced on him.
Five hours later, Rabiul Islam, leader of Deraya union unit Swechchha Sebok League, was beaten to death by opposition men in the Deraya bazar area.
Comilla
BGB member Ripon, 25, and rickshaw-puller Md Babul, 40, were shot dead in separate clashes in Comilla town and Laksam where around 60 people, including several policemen, were injured. In pre-blockade violence on Monday night, another man was killed in Laksham after being hit by a bomb blast.
Bogra
A local leader of Jubo Dal – BNP’s youth front – was killed and 20 others injured in a clash between police and blockade supporters in the Banani area in Bogra town. The deceased was identified as Yusuf Hossain, 26, organising secretary of ward 21 unit of Jubo Dal.
Elsewhere in the district, masked miscreants torched the local election office and lit a fire on the nearby railway track, disrupting train movement.
Sirajganj
A clash between police and opposition men left a pedestrian named Sakman Ali, 40, dead in the Jogainmor area of the Sirajganj town around 8am.
Feni
An auto-rickshaw driver was killed in an attack by blockade supporters in the Feni district township in the evening, police said. Dulal, 40, was hit by a stone hurled by opposition men on the Feni turnaround near the Dhaka-Chittagong highway around 8:30pm, witnesses said. He succumbed to his injuries on his way to the Feni Sadar Hospital.
Dhaka
BNP-Jamaat men torched at least three vehicles, including a motorbike of a police official, and vandalised two ATM booths and several other vehicles alongside clashing with law enforcers in Uttara. Blockade supporters also set a local Awami League office on fire.
The driver of an auto-rickshaw sustained severe burn injuries when opposition men torched his vehicle in front of Eastern Plaza at Hatirpool around 12:30pm. Injured Sobed Ali was admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Another woman sustained severe injuries by being hit by a bomb blast in the Khilgaon area.
Police picked up nine opposition men when they clashed with law enforcers from the Aminbazar area around 10am.
Moreover, reports of blockade supporters sabotaging railway tracks leading to derailment of train compartments and resulting in snapping of railway communication came from various districts including Mymensingh, Jhenaidah, Gaibandha, Brahmanbaria and Jessore.
Opposition men also blocked vehicular movement on highways by burning tires and logs at various places around the country.
Separate clashes between blockade supporters, ruling party men and law enforcers left around 100 people injured in a number of districts including Mymensingh, Laxmipur, Chandpur, Noakhali, Khulna, Gazipur, Habiganj and Jamalpur.
