Truck helper killed in Barisal petrol bomb attack
A truck helper was burnt to death as pickets allegedly hurled a petrol bomb at the vehicle in Uzirpur upazila of Barisal this morning during the daylong hartal of BNP-led 20-party alliance.
The victim was identified as Sohag, 18, hailed from Nagarkanda upazila of Faridpur, reports our Barisal correspondent.
The truck caught fire due to a petrol bomb thrown by alleged blockaders at a place between Bamrail and Shanuhar around 6:00am, AKM Ehsanullah, superintendent of police of Barisal, said quoting its driver Ripon.
Sensing danger, Ripon jumped off the truck but Sohag could not escape the attack, the SP said.
Later, the charred body of Sohag was recovered from inside the vehicle, the police official said.
Ripon, who sustained mild burn injuries during the attack, was admitted to Faridpur General Hospital.
They went to Barisal from Faridpur to transport onions yesterday.
They started for Faridpur from Barisal city around 5:30am today, Ripon said.
The alliance has enforced the hartal in the division since 6:00am today in protest against the oppression and arrest of its leaders and activists by law enforcers.
Meanwhile, police detained Sharif Taslima Kalam Poly, a reserved councillor of Barisal City Corporation, on charge of plotting subversive activities in the morning, said Kazi Mahbubur Rahman, officer in charge of Kawnia Police Station.
SHUTDOWN IN RAJSHAHI DIVISION
The 36-hour hartal in Rajshahi division, with Rajshahi, Bogra, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Natore, Chapainawabganj, Pabna and Sirajganj, was reportedly marked with attack on lawmen with crude bombs and brisk processions until noon.
In Rajshahi, Shibir activists brought out a brisk procession and burned car tyres on the road before the Rajshahi Government College around 8:00am. The activists blasted a crude bomb targeting a vehicle of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) deputed there.
Iftekhar Alam, assistant police commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, confirmed the incident and said no one was hurt in the explosion.
No top or mid-level BNP leaders were seen on the streets demonstrating in support of the hartal, our Rajshahi correspondent reports.
In Chapainawabganj, where the BNP man was killed in a “shootout” with Rab, brisk processions of Shibir men and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of BNP, were reported from Shantirmore and Boro Indira intersection areas this morning.
The alliance is also observing a countrywide nonstop blockade since January 5 protesting confinement of its chief Khaleda Zia to her Gulshan office in Dhaka.
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