7 killed in deadly bus arson

At least 12 people were killed in arson and bomb attacks on transports, including seven burnt to death in Comilla on Tuesday, the deadliest day of ongoing indefinite blockade enforced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance.
The alliance has also extended the 72-hour hartal, which was due to end this morning, by another 36 hours till 6:00pm Thursday along with the nonstop transport blockade.
BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed in a press statement announced the extension of the hartal in protest against what it said killing of people by joint forces of the government ignoring the ‘public demand’, ‘indiscriminate killing’ of the alliance leaders and activists, making them victims of enforced disappearance, filing of cases, attacks and mass arrests.
Tuesday’s killings pushed the death toll in four weeks of political violence to 60, at least 26 of them burnt to death in arson attack on transports by suspected blockaders.
Scores of passengers and transport workers also suffered burns in separate arson attacks across the country on the day.
At least four pro-blockade pickets were injured when police opened fire
them in different areas in the capital. They were admitted to hospitals in police custody.
Several hundred BNP- Jamaat men were detained on the day. Of them, at least 21 were arrested in the capital, 55 in Bogra, 32 in Habiganj, 29 in Khulna, 15 in Gazipur, 12 each in Jhenaidah and Sirajganj, 14 each in Sylhet and Gaibandha and seven in Manikganj.
New Age Comilla correspondent Yasmin Reema reported that at least seven people, including two women, were charred and 26 others suffered burns in a firebomb attack on a bus at Jagamohanpur on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Chouddagram upazila early Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Abu Taher, 50, and Abu Yusuf, 55 of Chakaria in Cox`s Bazar, Nuruzzman Paplu, 50, a contractor from Jessore, and his daughter Maisha Nayma Tasnin, 16, a student of class X, Asma Begum,35, and her son Shanto, 8, from Palash upazila in Narsingdi district and Md Wasim, 45, of Kaptanbazar in Dhaka.
Chouddagram highway police officer Nazimuddin Ahmed said miscreants had hurled a petrol bomb at the Icon Paribahan bus, which was headed for Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar, at about 3.30am leaving seven passengers dead on the spot and 26 others injured.
The injured were taken to Comilla Medical College Hospital’s burn unit and six of them shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Two of them – Rashedul, 25, and Shahidul, 18, – were in critical condition with 40 per cent 28 per cent burns respectively. The charred remains of seven victims were sent to Comilla Medical College morgue.
Comilla fire service assistant director Monir Hossain said four fire engines from the upazila sadar went to the spot and doused the flames with the help of locals.
Police superintendent in Comilla Tutul Chakrabarty announced a bounty of Taka 1 lakh for helping capture of the miscreants responsible for the deadly arson attack and killings. Railway minister Mujibul Haque visited the spot in the afternoon and attended a protest rally there.
Police arrested Emran Hossain Bappi, Chouddagram upazila correspondent of daily Amar Desh, and were hunting for his colleague SM Solaiman in connection with the arson.
Kamal Hossain, 28, a pickup van driver, who was injured in a firebomb attack in Lakshmipur on Monday, died on the way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital early Tuesday. He suffered fatal burns when suspected blockaders hurled a petrol bomb at the vehicle carrying rice on Lakshmipur-Choumuhani road near the district police lines and jail around 8:00am Monday. Two others were injured in the attack.
New Age Barisal correspondent reported that a driver and his assistant were burnt to death in an arson attack on a salt-carrying truck under escort of law enforcers at Gournadi on Barisal-Dhaka highway early Tuesday.
The truck fell into a roadside canal after suspected pro-blockade activists threw firebombs at it, leaving the two dead on the spot.
The deceased were identified as truck driver Nur Hossain Shikdar, 31, from Kalaiya of Baufal upazila and his helper Zafar Bari, 26, from Dashmina of Patuakhali district.
The police, however, described it as a ‘road accident’.
Gournadi police officer-in-charge Sajjad Hossain said that the truck caught fire after it lost control and fell into a canal.
But locals said that an attack on the truck by blockaders led to the accident.
They said that the windscreen of the truck was smashed but the petrol tank and battery were not damaged. The driver’s seat was burnt and the bodies of the victims had marks of burns.
Two Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal activists were knocked down and killed by a truck as they were trying to throw petrol bombs at the vehicle in Jessore on Tuesday, the police said.
The victims were identified as M Yusuf of Taherpur and Mohammad Liton of Durgapur under Monirampur upazila.
Their families and associates, however, claimed that the two were found dead on Tuesday morning after being picked up by the police on Monday night.
Monirampur upazila unit BNP president Shahid Iqbal alleged that the police had killed them and staged the drama of a road accident.
Monirampur police officer in-charge Khabir Ahmad said that their bodies were found at Begaritala on Jessore- Chuknagar Road around 3:15am after the ‘accident’.
Police also claimed that they recovered petrol bombs from the spot.
In the capital, at least four people were shot in the legs and a suspected blockader was given a mob beating in the morning.
A Chhatra Shibir activist was shot in the legs when police opened fire on a pro-blockade procession at Kadamtali.
The Shibir activist, Abdul Hamid, 22, a former student of Dhaka College, was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in police custody.
Two Jamaat activists were shot in the legs by police on Mohammadpur Razia Sultana Road at about 8:30am.
They were identified as Md Nazmul, 40, and Md Abul Kashem, 37.
Mohammapur police said that the Jamaat activists were plotting subversion, but the police foiled the attempt.