Three people including the bomber and Udichi's district unit joint convenor died on the spot, one on way to hospital while three others died from their injuries later.

Ten policemen were among the wounded in the bombing where the bomber rammed his bicycle into a crowd and detonated the bomb.

The crowd gathered there after a bomb had exploded while firefighters were trying to defuse it. The first bomb was believed to have been planted as a prelude to the main attack.

Main opposition Awami League has called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district for Sunday to protest the blast incident.

Investigators said primary investigation suggests that the man on bicycle was the attacker. But they have yet to be convinced whether the bombing was carried out by more than one bomber.

The identity of the attacker could not be known as of last night. Police suspect the attack was made by two bombers and the second one is Yadav, who died from his injuries later at hospital.

But an investigator seeking anonymity told The Daily Star last night that they are not sure whether Yadav was involved in the attack.

Police found a JMB leaflet on the scene. In the leaflet, the banned militant outfit reiterates its call for jihad to establish Islamic rule in the country. It also vows to crush all obstacles that might come along the way.

Fifth since the first ever suicide bombing in Jhalakathi, yesterday's attack took place in the hometown of State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar. Casualties rose to 25 with the latest one in a series of suicide blasts that earlier hit Jhalakathi on November 14, Chittagong and Gazipur on November 29 and Gazipur again two days later.

Three of yesterday's victims were identified as Udichi's joint convenor Khwaja Haider Hossain, Jahanara and Ripon.

Back on March 6, 1999, a powerful explosion at a conference of the same cultural organisation in Jessore left 10 people dead and scores of others injured.

THE CARNAGE
Witnesses said some locals spotted a bomb in front of the office of Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigosthi, a left-leaning cultural organisation, at about 9:40am. Shortly afterwards, fire fighters rushed to the scene and started to splash water on the bomb to have it defused. But it went off, injuring three people including two policemen.

On hearing the news, as a large number of people including police officials and local administrators thronged the scene, the bomber riding a bicycle got into the crowd and blasted the bomb.

Witnesses said the bomber died on impact. The blast severed his right hand and electric wire was found tied around his body.

Udichi leader Khwaja Haider and Jahanara, 35, of Patpotti area of the town also died on the spot while 44 including 10 police constables and the other suicide bomber were injured.

Of the wounded, 10 were admitted to Netrakona Sadar Hospital and the rest to Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital (MMCH). One died while people were preparing to shift them to the MMCH. Ripon of Kachari Road and an unidentified man died during treatment at the MMCH.

POLICE CLAIM
Police said people found Yadav, a motor mechanic of Chhotobazaar area in the town, lying on the ground with most of his body charred in the blast. An unexploded bomb was tied to his right thigh, they added.

Police rushed him to Netrakona Sadar Hospital in a critical condition.

Explosives experts of Rab defused the bomb roped to his body at around 3:30pm at the hospital. But he succumbed to his injuries at around 4:00pm, police sources added.

Locals said Yadav hails from Bridgechaparkona village of Saota union in Barhatta upazila of Netrokona. He is the son of Satyendra Chandra and Arati Rani. Netrakona SP Ali Hossain Fakir, however, did not confirm his identity.

SITUATION AT HOSPITALS
Condition of five of the injured undergoing treatment at the MMCH was stated to be critical, our Mymensingh correspondent reports. Two victims including a youth aged about 18 years died during treatment at the hospital.

Doctors declared dead the second suicide bomber when he was brought to MMCH later.

Four of the policemen undergoing treatment have been identified as ASI Abdus Samad, havilder Shah Alam, constables Ismail Hossain and Humayun. The other injured are Sudipta Pal, Sahana Begum, Mohtasin Billah, Shafiq, Bimol Saha, Liton, Abul Kalam Azad, Aurangjeb, Subrata Roy, Khokon Das, Milton, Liton, Mahbub Zaman, Hirenda, Rony, Nikhil Chandra Sarker, Saptam Saha, Sujit Dhar, Sushak Banik, Sumon Saha, Sarwar Hossain, Masudur Rahman, Sattar, Alal Uddin, Shelly, Rezaul, Munna, Ashraful, Razib, Abdul Hakim, Shankar and Murshida.

Bimol and Munna were shifted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital as their condition deteriorated.

Condition of no one of the 10 undergoing treatment at Netrakona Sadar Hospital was learnt to be critical.

NETRAKONA: HAVEN FOR MILITANTS?
Although JMB militants had threatened on a number of occasions to carry out bomb attack on government offices, courts and educational institutions, police did not take measures to arrest the militants. They rather denied all along the militants' existence in the district, reports our Netrakona correspondent.

District SP Ali Hossain Fakir who too had received a death threat over phone told The Daily Star recently that the threat was made from outside the district. "There is no militant activity in my district," he observed.

Local reports say many militants were sheltered in different madrasas and mosques, taking advantage of slackness of the law enforcers. Soon the town became a safe haven for the religious extremists.

Meanwhile, Lutfozzaman Babar visited the spot and the victims at different hospitals yesterday afternoon. He instructed the law enforcers to launch an extensive drive against the militants and hunt them down.

"Such blasts are taking place not only in Netrakona but across the country. Bombers must be cut off from the ones supplying them with explosives and funds. Besides, the people will have to unite to resist them," he said at the site.

SECURITY
As an uneasy calm descended on the whole district after the ghastly attack, paramilitary BDR have been deployed in Netrakona town. Additional police forces were called in from different upazilas and were stationed at different points across the town.

Police so far have arrested eight people for suspected links to the suicide bombing.

Panicked, people shut their shops and businesses while vehicles stopped plying the roads soon after the blasts.