Arson victim dies, 8 more burnt Train made target again.

Another firebomb victim lost his battle for life at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and eight more suffered burns while a train came under arson attack on Thursday, the last day of a week-long hartal coupled with an indefinite blockade that enters its 46th day today.Incidents of violence were reported from a number of districts, including Chittagong, Tangail, Chandpur, Jhenaidah and Bogra on the day.A youth died in an explosion while he was allegedly making crude bombs in the capital’s Hazaribagh area that pushed the death toll from political violence to 100 since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance enforced the nonstop blockade on January 5 for fresh elections.Of the dead, 63 are common people and 35 political activists.

Several hundred people were arrested by law enforcement agencies, including 24 in Dhaka, 24 in Rajshahi, 16 in Comilla, 11 each in Chittagong and Gazipur, 11 in Chandpur, nine in Bogra, four in Munshiganj and many others elsewhere.BNP joint secretary general Salah Uddin Ahmed on Thursday in a press statement said the ongoing ‘peaceful’ transport blockade would continue.He also cautioned that the BNP-led alliance would be forced to announce tough programmes like hartal again if the government did not meet the ‘popular demand’ for fresh polls under a neutral administration.Salah Uddin said ‘patriotic’ and ‘conscious’ quarters apprehended rise of ‘extremist and undemocratic forces’ as ‘the opposition is being denied the right to democratic protest in constitutional ways’.In the capital, arson victim Hossain Ali Mia, 52, died at DMCH burn unit on Thursday morning after fighting a grim battle for life for four days.

Hossain from Lakshmipur was a day-labourer.He had suffered fatal burns when suspected blockaders hurled firebombs at a covered-van at Lalpur Bazar of Feni on Sunday night, said Feni Sadar police officer-in-charge Mahbub Morshed.He died around 10:20am at the intensive care unit of DMCH burn unit, said Mozammel Haq, DMCH police camp inspector.The driver of the covered van and his assistant also suffered burns in the attack.he three victims were admitted to the DMCH the next day.In Chandpur, miscreants set fire to a carriage of Meghna Express train in Bara Station area in Chandpur in the early hours of Thursday.
Bangladesh Railways division transportation officer (Chittagong) Firoz Iftekhar told New Age that the some seats in the carriage were burnt in the arson attack carried out when the train was standing at the station.

A four-member committee has been formed and a case would be filed in connection with the incident, he added.New Age correspondent in Chittagong reported that at least four people suffered burns a firebomb attack on an auto-rickshaw in Tiger Pass area under Kotwali police station in the port city early Thursday.
Assistant sub-inspector of Chittagong Medical College Hospital police box Pankaj Barua quoting the injured said the human hauler had overturned after coming under firebomb attack that left eight people injured.Among the eight, four suffered burns while the rest sustained injuries from the accident, he added.
CMCH burn unit registrar Swarup Chakrabarty said that among the burn victims, three were given primary treatment while the other, Suvash Shom, 65, was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for better treatment.Suvash, from Barabkunda of Sitakunda upazila, is the manager of Magura Hoardings. He suffered 25 per cent burns, he added.

New Age correspondent in Tangail reported that two people suffered burns when suspected blockaders hurled firebombs at a truck carrying sand at Sharpolshia on the east end of Bangabandhu Bridge under Bhuapur upazila early Thursday. Truck driver Ujjal, 32, and helper Mamun Mia, 24, suffered burns in the arson attack.
They were taken to Tangail Medical College and Hospital but the doctor on duty referred them to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. The truck was partly burnt in the attack.Officer-in-charge of Bangabandhu Bridge East police station Md Akheruzzaman said an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami was arrested in the area on suspicion he might have been involved in the attack.The police did not name the Jamaat man.In the capital, a double-decker bus of BRTC meant for transporting Dhaka University students was torched at Mirpur 1, said DU acting proctor Amzad Ali.No casualties were reported.

The Detective Branch with the help of the university authorities recovered two crude bombs from DU arts faculty area around 1:00pm.A youth, Sayem, was given a mob beating at Motijheel at about 1:30pm on suspicion he was a pro-hartal picket.Motijheel police sub-inspector Salahuddin said that locals had caught the man and beat him up after he allegedly blasted a crude bomb there and tried to flee.Life in the capital city on Thursday carried on as usual despite bomb scares. There were streams of traffic on the roads and even tailbacks were seen on some streets.Kitchen markets, shops and shopping malls were open while private and government offices, banks and business establishments functioned as usual. Most of the educational institutions, however, remained closed.But the hartal affected life and economic activities in the outlying districts. Vehicles plied in lesser numbers on inter-district and long-routes.Trains were running hours behind schedule but ferry services remained unaffected.New Age Jhenaidah correspondent reported that miscreants had set fire to the district unit office of the BNP in the afternoon.

News Curtesy: www.newagebd.com