2 dead, 8 more burnt

Critically burnt fruit trader Farid being moved to the ICU of DMCH burn unit . Photo: Anisur Rahman

Arson toll made an alarming spike yesterday across the country, after an entire week of no such attacks.
At least 10 people were severely burnt, two to death, while six schools and at least 13 vehicles were set on fire.
Most of the attacks were made during the early hours of the day, between 1:30am and 3:30am, using the dark as cover.
In Dinajpur, two people were burnt to death in Hakimpur upazila, as blockaders hurled petrol bombs at an onion laden truck around 1:30am.
As the truck went ablaze, the driver lost control and steered it into a ditch, where the vehicle overturned caging the occupants inside.
The driver and two others managed to escape the death trap. Mohammad Shah Newaz, 30, and onion trader Adinur Rahman, 40, were burnt alive inside.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) SM Ahsan Habib of Hakimpur Police Station said the bodies could be recovered after an arduous struggle of three hours.

His wife is in tears fearing the worst. Photo: Anisur Rahman

"They were inside the cabin, molten into the seats. We had to cut the cabin open to get the bodies out," said Dinajpur fire service officer Mohammad Shahidul Islam.  
In the capital, three passengers sustained critical injuries when a bus was set aflame in front of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel near  Shahbagh around 6:45am.
Of them, insurance company worker Shahina Akhter and fruit trader Farid Miah are fighting for their lives in the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The bus driver, Mohammad Babul Howlader, received eight percent body burns.
Meanwhile, police recovered a carton containing 16 petrol bombs and 29 crude bombs from a BNP procession in Mirpur-10 around 7:30pm. They have arrested three people from the procession in this connection.
In retaliation, the BNP men torched a bus in the area around 11:30pm.
Two more buses were torched in Abdullahpur around 6:00pm and another was set ablaze in Gulistan in the evening. None has been reported hurt.
In Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, arsonists torched a bus near Boliarpur around 9:45pm.
In Chapainawabganj, three truckers were burnt at Kansat of Shibganj upazila early yesterday when blockaders torched their vehicles.
The attackers hurled petrol bombs at the truck cabins. The injured are drivers Jamaatul Islam, 40, Azizul Islam, 50, and Mohammad Arif, 20.
In Magura, blockaders hurled petrol bombs at two running trucks on the highway in Parnanduajali area around 1:45am.
One of the truckers received minor burn injuries while the other sustained injuries by jumping off his burning truck.
In Dagonbhuiyan upazila of Feni, attackers set fire to five schools, two of which were completely gutted, around 3:30am yesterday. The schools had been selected as vote centres for the January 5 parliamentary polls.
The schools are: Omarpur Sultana Memorial Girls' High School, Gojaria Adarsha Academy, Nayanpur Govt Primary School, Basiriah Madrasa and Karimullah High School.                          
Teachers and students broke down into tears when they came to visit the ruins of the schools.           
Bakhtiar Islam, patron member of Omarpur school, said: "My mother spent her life savings to set up the school for village girls."                  
In sadar upazila of Comilla, criminals set fire to a makeshift Awami League campaign office in Subarnopur bazar area around 3:30am. Five shops adjacent to it were also burnt down.
The affected shop owners have estimated the loss due to arson at Tk 3 lakh.
In Sitakunda, criminals brunt material for setting up a poll centre kept in the extended building of Alam Shafi Primary School in the municipality around 9:00pm. The school premises was selected as a poll centre.
Officer-in-Charge Iftekhar Hasan of Sitakunda Police Station said the school building was unharmed and that police would soon launch raids to arrest the culprits.
According to the OC, the arson was carried out to intimidate locals.
In another incident, arsonists set fire to a parked bus of a groom's entourage in front of a community centre on CDA Avenue in East Nasirabad of the port city.
They broke the rear windscreen of the vehicle and hurled a petrol bomb inside it. Locals almost instantly doused the fire.
No one was in the bus during the attack.
Arsonists also set fire to a truck on Nagarbari-Pabna highway in Pabna around 3:00am and to another at Kachua in Chandpur in the small hours yesterday.