Arson victim dies, buses, trucks torched

A victim of transport arson died and a suspected pro-blockade activist was shot at by police while trying to flee after torching a bus in the capital as sporadic violence marked the first day of a 72-hour countrywide hartal on Sunday amid the nonstop blockade enforced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance. BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed said in a press statement on Sunday that the hartal would continue simultaneously with the transport blockade if the internet, telephone and satellite cable connections were not restored immediately to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office. Abdur Razzak, 28, organising secretary of the New Market unit of Juba Dal, associate body of BNP, was shot in the right leg by police when he was trying to flee after setting a bus on fire in front of Balaka cinema on Mirpur Road around 7:45pm, said New Market police sub-inspector Ansarul Islam. He is undergoing treatment in police custody at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the police said. A man who had suffered terrible burns in an arson attack on a bus in the city’s Jatrabari on January 23, lost his battle for life in DMCH on Sunday afternoon. The victim, Nur-e-Alam, 40, was from Sonargaon of Narayanganj. He died in the intensive care unit of the hospital around 1:00pm, said Mozammel Haque, in-charge of DMCH police camp. The latest death pushed the toll from the violence to 45, mostly in firebomb attacks, during the blockade and staggered hartals since January 6. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser Mosaddak Ali was picked up by plainclothes police from in front of her Gulshan office in the evening. Besides, around 500 BNP- Jamaat men were arrested across the country, including 25 in the capital, on Saturday night and Sunday. At least four buses were torched in night-time attacks by suspected blockaders in different area of the capital on Sunday. Clashes, arsons and vandalism were also reported from Brahmanbaria, Bogra, Feni, Jessore, Comilla, Gaibandha, Pirojpur and Lakshmipur. The alliance called the shutdown from 6:00am Sunday to 6:00am Wednesday in protest against the ruling party’s threat to ‘blow up’ the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office and to arrest her as well as the prime minister’s instruction to the police to ‘suppress the movement’ at any cost. Khaleda Zia had announced the indefinite blockade on January 5 as the government denied her permission to hold a rally on the day in the capital demanding early elections under a neutral administration. In the capital, two crude bombs were exploded, one inside the secretariat and the other at Bidyuit Bhaban, around noon on Sunday, but no casualties were reported. Two students, including a minor boy, were injured in separate bomb blasts in Lalbagh and Chawkbazar in the evening. The victims were identified as Sabbir, 13, and Nurul Amin, a student of Jagannath University. They were sent to DMCH, said the police. Life in the capital was partially affected by the hartal as city buses plied in less number, with rickshaws and CNG- run autos dominating the streets. Offices and businesses functioned while some markets were open. Additional police guarded the key points of the city. The police have kept the BNP central office at Naya Paltan locked since January 3 while the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office remained out of mobile network, satellite TV, land phone and internet connections. Additional police were also deployed around the office. The government on Saturday night restored power connection to the Gulshan office, about 20 hours after snapping the line along with telephone, internet and satellite cable connections. But the phone, internet and satellite cable connections were yet to be restored. Long-route buses stayed off the highways but train services on Dhaka-Narayanganj and Dhaka-Mymenshingh routes were normal. But trains ran behind schedule between Dhaka and cities like Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Sylhet. Some of the trains were late by five to 12 hours on the routes, said Dhaka station manager Sitangshu Chakrabartee. Four buses were torched in a span of half an hour in the city’s Paribagh, Old Dhaka, Badda and New Market area after sunset, said Fire Service and Civil Defence. No casualties were reported in the arson attacks, said the fire service duty officer Nilufa Yasmin. Miscreants also torched a garage in the second lane of Gopibagh around 8:00pm, she said. In the morning, four crude bombs were exploded in separate places of Old Dhaka. Witnesses said two crude bombs were set off on the North South Road in Siddik Bazar at about 11:00am. Ten minutes later, two more bombs went off in front of Suritola Model Government Primary School in the area. No casualties were reported. The police seized five firebombs from Lal Mosque area of Kadamtali around noon, said Kadamtali police sub-inspector Mizanur Rahman. Activists of Mahila Dal, women wing of BNP, marched in a procession on road 86 at Gulshan-2, where Khaleda Zia’s office is located, in the afternoon. The procession was led by Dhaka city unit president Sultana Ahmed and BNP executive committee member Bilkis Islam. In Brahmanbaria, five people, including a policeman, were injured as BNP activists clashed with the police in the Rail Gate area of the town around noon, said district police assistant superintendent Tapas Ranjan Ghosh. Witnesses said the fighting broke out after the police chased pro-blockade pickets who were allegedly trying to hurl crude bombs at a train. In Khulna, the office of Khulna Metropolitan Police commissioner came under bomb attack at about 9:45pm on Saturday, reported our correspondent. Police commissioner Nibash Chandra Majhi said he escaped unhurt as the bombrs missed the target. He was working in his office when miscreants hurled two crude bombs presumably from a neighbouring building, he said. In Feni, miscreants set six CNG-run auto-rickshaws on fire around 9:00am on Trunk Road. Four trucks carrying goods were also torched on Barabazar Takia road. There were no casualties from the arsons. In Lakshmipur, blockaders vandalised two auto-rickshaws in Mia Rasta area of the town in the morning. A pick-up van was torched early in the morning in the town, reported our correspondent. In Jessore, a transport worker was injured as miscreants hurled a firebomb at a truck in Natunhat on Jessore-Benapole road in the wee hours on Sunday, reported our correspondent. The truck driver, Nazim Uddin, 25, from Kaliganj upazila in Jhenidah, suffered burns while a car escaped the arson attack, said Kotwali police officer-in-charge Enamul Haque. A microbus was also burnt in a firebomb attack in the same area, but no casualties were reported. In Comilla, miscreants torched two buses after driving the passengers out at Syedpur in Burichang upazila in the afternoon, reported our correspondent. Devpur police camp in-charge Nazrul Islam said the blockaders had forced the two buses of S Alam Paribahan and Jonaki Paribahan to stop by hurling stones and crude bombs before setting them on fire. In Bogra, a truck carrying goods was torched at Erulia around noon, said Bogra Sadar police officer-in-charge Abul Bashar. Two more trucks were torched in Barapur and Charmatha area around noon, reported our correspondent. In Habiganj, 10 buses were vandalised and a truck was set on fire in Poddarbari area of the town, reported our correspondent. Police arrested 63 people during overnight drives in the district. Nine of them were BNP activists. Police also arrested 25 BNP-Jamaat men in Dhaka, 81 in Jessore, 12 in Feni, 13 in Meherpur, 20 in Comilla, 15 in Rajshahi, 3 in Sirajganj, five in Chuadanga, five in Mymenshigh, 12 in Manikganj, 11 in Noakhali and 48 in Satkhira.

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