Photographs and video clips of bomb blasts during the recent general strikes have flooded newspapers and TV channels but their backgrounds had remained obscure.
But now bdnews24.com has obtained a video recording that shows strikers calling newspersons and then setting off bombs in their presence.
A close circuit camera in Dhaka’s Hazaribagh has helped reveal the scenes behind the scenario during the recent Opposition-sponsored 60-hour strike.
For several days, reporters had been getting text message tip-offs on their mobile phones about procession venues.
On arrival at the mentioned spots they would, almost without fail, get to see processions and bomb explosions.
In the Nov 6 video, two youths are seen in a lane, apparently waiting for someone.
After a while, an auto-rickshaw sporting a press sticker stops there. One of the waiting men approaches and speaks to the passengers.
They then go back to the lane and are joined by three more people.
The auto-rickshaw is a bit late in moving on, prompting one of the waiting youths to point the direction.
One person, holding a video camera, steps out of the auto-rickshaw, and takes up position at the indicated spot.
At that very moment, five people emerge from the lane, walking in a procession.
They march up to intersection and wrap up their banner. Two of them then explode two hand-made bombs close to the spot where the man with the camera is seen standing.
After the bomb bursts, the people disperse, entering different lanes.
The man with the video camera boards the auto-rickshaw again and drives away.
Photojournalists said such incidents were happening regularly.
A photojournalist, preferring anonymity, told bdnews24.com that he too often got calls on his mobile phone – each time the caller telling him to go to a certain place.
Once at the mentioned spot, they and their cameras witnessed bomb blasts or torched vehicles, he said.
Journalists eagerly respond to these anonymous calls or messages, knowing their pictures or video clips would be sought after in view of the country’s current political turmoil, the journalist said.
Often, the strikers are said to have waited if photojournalists are late in arriving before executing their planned task.
Journalists said they were by now familiar with these ‘staged’ processions and bomb blasts.
Police officials said there were also aware of them.
A police offer said on the condition of anonymity that they had been told to keep watch on a place, especially if they spotted a vehicle belonging to a TV channel nearby.
Several journalists said police had requested them to inform them in advance through text message or phone calls if they happened to get such tip-offs.
Source: Bd news24