Staff Reporter :
Stray incidents marked the 35th day of ongoing blockade and 4th day of continuous hartal enforced on Wednesday by BNP-led 20-party alliance across the country.
Three persons, including two policemen and a picket, were injured in aviolent clash between the law enforcers and blockaders in Gauripur upazila of Munshiganj yesterday.
Of them, the picket sustained bullet wounds when police fired shots to take control over the area. On the other hand, the policemen received splinter injuries when miscreants hurled crude bombs targeting police van.
The injured police personnel were identified as Sub-Inspector Masud Jamali and Constable Bachchu Miah while the picket was identified as Md Sohag.
“Police got information from an under-cover source that some blockaders have taken position at Mamun Nagar to attack vehicles with petrol bombs and crude bombs. Getting the news, a team of police rushed to the spot,” Officer-in-Charge of Gauripur Police Station Mohammed Ali Shiekh said.
Sensing the presence of police, the miscreants, hurled crude bomb targeting the law enforcers, leaving the two policemen injured. In retaliation, police also opened fire leaving Sohag injured.
Earlier, on Tuesday night miscreants torched the Land Office adjacent to Bashabari Market in the town.
In Rajshahi, the miscreants blasted six crude bombs at Rajshahi University [RU] on Wednesday amid an indefinite strike enforced by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
University sources said the crude bombs went off in front of different academic buildings and dormitories on the campus in between 10:30 am and 12 pm.
Witnesses said miscreants exploded a crude bomb in front of Shahidullah Arts Building while two others inside the Science building, two in front of Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall and another at Tukutaki premises on the campus. However, no casualty was reported. Earlier, police recovered an unexploded crude bomb from in front of Sayed Ismail Hossain Siraji building around 9 am.
Rajshahi University (RU) unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) called an indefinite strike on the campus from Saturday, protesting the arrest of its general secretary Kamrul Hasan while RU unit Islami Chhatra Shibir called a two-day strike for Wednesday and Thursday to press home its six-point demand, including the trial of the killers of one of its leaders.
In Feni, the miscreants hurled two petrol bombs into a passenger bus in Feni leaving 11 passengers burnt where at least 29 were injured earlier on Tuesday night.
Eleven people were burnt when a bus caught fire after assailants hurled petrol bombs at it at Feni’s Dagonbhuiyan Upazila. The bus was crossing the Upazila’s Amirgaon area when it came under the attack around 9:30 pm.
Locals rushed the injured to the Feni Sadar Hospital at around 10 pm, resident doctor Asim Kumar Saha told the press. He said two of the injured were later sent to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital in critical condition.
Quoting Mohsena Khatun, one of injured, her son ‘Kashem’ told the press that attackers had thrown two petrol bombs into the bus.
In capital city Dhaka, the miscreants exploded a bomb inside the emergency unit of Mitford Hospital in Old Dhaka early yesterday. Glasses of windows got damaged due to the explosion. However, no casualty was reported in the explosion.
Apart from it, miscreants blasted a cocktail in front of Paltan Thana in the city on yesterday evening.
Another cocktail was exploded in front of City Heart Market near the thana. However, police could not hold anyone in this connection.
Paltan Thana sub-inspector (SI) Jahangir Alam said they are conducting drives to nab the criminals. Police forces were kept in alert position in the area, he added.
Meanwhile, the police arrested at least 12 leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir for ‘sabotage plan’ from different places of the city during a drive in last 24 hours ending yesterday morning.
Deputy Commissioner [Media] of DMP Masudur Rahman said nine leaders and activists of BNP and three of Jamaat and Shibir were arrested for planning subversive activities.
Police have arrested three men making Molotov cocktails from Old Dhaka’s Bangshal area.
In another drive, the police arrested four suspected saboteurs along with five petrol bombs and four crude bombs from Moylar Goli of North South Road in the city’s Bangshal area on Tuesday night.
The arrestees were identified as Kawsar Ahmed, 20, Faruk, 30, Mamun,22 and Dulal. One of the arrested confessed that they make petrol bombs and sell them for Tk 500 each.
Police produced them before a Dhaka court on Wednesday morning.
Officer-in Charge of Bangshal Police Station Abdul Kuddus Fakir said they were detained from several places in the area early on the day.
The bomb makers were identified as Mohammad Faruk, 30, ‘Mamun’, 17, and Kawsar, 16. The police officer said Faruk was held with five firebombs from Shikkatuli on Tuesday night.
Mamun and Kawsar were arrested getting a tip-off from Alubazar area later, police said.
