Gaibandha Blast: It was a mortar shell of 1971
The explosion that took three lives in Gaibandha's Gobindaganj upazila on Wednesday was of an abandoned mortar shell of 1971, and no militancy link or sabotage plan was behind it, said police.
After examining the spot and explosive materials, Rahmatullah Chowdhury, in-charge of the bomb disposal unit of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), said "It was a strong mortar shell of 1971 which was used to in the war.
"It was made in a Pakistan ordnance factory (PoF). Inspecting the incident, we understand that the mortar exploded as the three dead tried to cut it with an electric blade."
The law enforcers also found a fuse of the mortar shell on the spot and defused it, he said.
The mortar shell exploded around 4:00pm last Wednesday.
Three men -- Borhan Uddin, 40, Wahedul Islam, 32, Masud Rana, 35, of the same upazila -- were killed in the blast.
Police detained a suspect -- Habibur Rahman, 40, of Bogura's Shibganj upazila -- in connection with the incident whereas Rab held another man – Khairuzzaman, of Gazipur -- in connection with the incident.
Sources said Habibur got the mortar shell a year ago from some laborer of his area. During the expansion work of the Dhaka-Rangpur highway, the laborers got this mortar shell.
As a local political leader, Habibur took it from them and had hidden it at his home for the last one year.
Later, once he shared it with his partner Borhan, he was forced to hand it over to Borhan.
Habibur is a ward sectary of the Jatiya party in Mokamtala union and an accused in a domestic violence case, said Bogura police.
AKM Mehedi Hasan, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj Police Station, told The Daily Star that a case under explosive and murder is going to be filed against Habibur and Kairuzzaman.
The OC said, "Habibur and Khairuzzman are directly involved in this incident. They knew that it was explosive."
Family members of Borhan, who were also detained for interrogation, will not be accused in the case, he said.
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