A ward-level leader of Jubo Dal died when members of Border Guard Bangladesh opened fire on blockaders in retribution for sudden attack on them in Sadar upazila of Chandpur yesterday evening.
Deceased Faruk Patwari, 35, was previously the president of BNP’s youth wing in ward 7 under Shahmahmudpur union in the district.
The BGB personnel came under attack on Chandpur-Comilla highway around 5:15pm as soon as their patrol team along with a magistrate reached Mohamaya in the upazila, said Chandpur Superintendent of Police Amir Zafar.
The blockaders suddenly swooped on the law enforcers and vandalised one of their vehicles, prompting the BGB men to retaliate with gunshots. A half-hour-long clash took place, which left at least 20 people injured, the SP added.
Jubo Dal leader Faruk received bullets in the chest and succumbed to his injuries on the way to Chandpur Sadar Hospital.
Magistrate Aminur Rahman who was with the BGB teams said the attackers would have killed them if they had not responded with gunfire.
Chandpur BNP has called a half-day hartal, protesting Faruk’s death.
Meanwhile, three people suffered burn wounds as blockade campaigners hurled a Molotov cocktail at a vegetable-laden truck at 10:30pm on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Kaliakoir upazila.
The victims were named as vegetable vendors Alamgir Hossain, 40, Lokman Hossain, 38, and truck driver Moksed Ali, 31.
Apart from the death, the first day of the opposition’s non-stop blockade on railways, roads and waterways passed off with a few incidents of vandalism, arson attack and clashes.
Most divisional cities and districts passed the New Year’s Day without major incidents of violence and picketing.
Like the previous blockades, no long-route buses operated. Train services were almost normal except falling behind schedules. Launches also operated without interruption. The vehicles, however, had fewer passengers.
The BNP-led opposition combine called the non-stop blockade to resist the “one-sided” January 5 polls.
The capital saw a slack blockade with a large number of vehicles running on roads; shopping malls and educational institutions were open.
However, two miscreants riding a motorbike exploded at least 15 crude bombs in between Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib Medical University main gate and Shahbagh intersection.
In Chittagong, a microbus driver of private television channel, Somoy TV, sustained injuries when miscreants hurled a crude bomb at his vehicle parked along the road in front of the television channel office in Ashkar Dighir Par.
Abdul Hakim received splinter injuries around 6am. He was undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College and Hospital.
Blockaders also torched two trucks in front of the city’s Directorate of Environment Office and Muradpur Intersection and vandalised 15 vehicles in the city’s Kajir Dewri and Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway at Satkania upazila.
They also blasted at least 30 crude bombs at different points of the city and elsewhere in the district.
A group of Jammat-Shibir men, riding motorcycles, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and chanting religious slogans on foot, rampaged through SS Khaled Road from Kajir Dewri to Askar Dighir Par area in the city around 5:50pm, leaving four people injured, said eye-witnesses.
Blockaders torched five vehicles and an election campaign office in four districts while law enforcers arrested 52 activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir raiding different areas of Jessore, Brahmanbaria, Gazipur and Satkhira.
In Gazipur, the opposition men set fire to two covered van in the morning and evening.
Of the two, the first was torched at Rajendrabazar in Sreepur upazila around 4:30am while the second – which belonged to a garment factory – was set on fire on Sreepur-Maona highway around 8pm.
Both of the vehicles remained parked, said Amir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sreepur police station.
Locals and on-duty policemen doused the fire immediately.
Besides, law enforcers detained 10 people in the district on suspicion of creating anarchy, according to police control room of the district.
In Bhola, blockaders hurled a patrol bomb at a passenger bus at Taltoli in Sadar upazila around 10am.
None was reported hurt as all passengers managed to get down from the bus in a hurry, said Sultan Mahmud, OC of Sadar police station.
The bus came under attack when it was going to Chittagong from Bhola, the OC added.
Our Satkhira correspondent reports activists of Jamaat-Shibir attacked an election campaign motorcade of independent candidate of Satkhira 2 constituency Saiful Karim Sabu, leaving four of his campaigners injured. The attackers also torched three motorbikes.
Locals said Sabu was on his way to Satkhira from Bhomra while one motorbike of the motorcade ran out of fuel. With other two bikers, the three polls campaigners – Kabir, Azizul and Babu, stopped to collect fuel.
“All of a sudden Jamaat-Shibir men attacked them and torched the vehicles. They beat the trio,” said Saiful Karim Sabu. The Jamaat-Shibir men also torched the candidate’s “easy bike” a few days back.
Enamul Haque, OC of Satkhira Sadar police station said they rescued the injured on information.
Meanwhile, in Jhenaidah, a gang of troublemakers torched the election office of Awami League candidate for Jhenaidah 3 (Moheshpur-Kotchandpur) Prof Nabi Newaj.
Golam sarwar, Awami League convener, Kotchandpur Municipal committee, said a group of about 100 Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a rally and burned down the office around 12:30pm.
