4 killed in arson attack as blockades run thru 9th day
Four people, including a child, were burnt to death and 10 others received various degrees of burn injuries after an arson attack by blockaders at Mithapukur upazila early Wednesday during the 9th day of the countywide non-stop blockade, enforced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance. The victims could not be identified immediately. However, police arrested seven in this connection, the Rangpur police said. Superintendent of Rangpur police, Abdur Razzak, said the blockaders threw a petrol bomb into a Dhaka-bound bus around 12.50am when it was crossing Mithapukur. Four passengers were burnt alive. The injured passengers were taken to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital. A physician of RMCH burn unit said seven were in critically condition.
United News of Bangladesh adds: Amid their non-stop countrywide blockade programme, the BNP-lead alliance on Tuesday night called a 24-hour nationwide strike from 6.00am Thursday protesting the gun attack on BNP chairperson’s adviser Reaz Rahman. Vehicular movement in the capital was as usual as blockaders were hardly seen on the streets in the morning. Rail communications with Dhaka and other districts were normal. A large number of law enforcers remained deployed in different parts of the capital to fend off any trouble. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia called the countrywide indefinite blockade from December 6 (Tuesday) as the government did not allow her party and allies to hold protest rallies in the capital. The 8th day of the blockade was marked by stray incidents of violence on Tuesday, leaving a man dead in Chittagong. A total of 19 vehicles were set afire throughout the country on Tuesday. At least nine vehicles were torched in different areas of the capital on Tuesday, the 8th day of the nationwide indefinite blockade. Besides, some 37 leaders and activists of BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested in the district in a drive in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
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