Petrol bomb back again

A trucker sustained burn injuries when miscreants hurled petrol bomb at his parked vehicle in Daudkandi upazila of Comilla early yesterday.

The arson attack was carried out around 3:00am, barely three hours before the beginning of Jamaat-e-Islami-sponsored daylong hartal.

Reaz Uddin, 39, suffered 14 percent burns. He is undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

The trucker was heading towards Chittagong after loading maize in Rangpur. He stopped the vehicle on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Pennai area to take a short break around 3:00am, said helper Munna.

They took tea in a nearby shop, he said, adding that he was on the truck's roof at the time of the attack.

"As he [Reaz] was taking a nap, three youths hurled a petrol bomb inside the truck through the window, setting the vehicle afire," he said. Munna also suffered minor injuries while jumping off the roof.

Hearing screams, locals rescued the driver and took him to a nearby upazila health complex. He was shifted to the DMCH as his condition deteriorated.

Stray incidents of violence also marked the yesterday's countrywide hartal. Jamaat called the hartal protesting the execution of its assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman for his 1971 ‪war crimes. 

In Gazipur, Jamaat activists torched a passenger bus pouring petrol at Shibbari around 6:00am. Five passengers were hurt while getting down from the bus hurriedly, reports our correspondent.

Quoting witnesses, Shaheen Alam, inspector of Joydevpur Fire Service, said the bus of Palash Paribahan started from Gazipur inter-district bus terminal to Nabinagar carrying around 15 passengers.

As it reached Shibbari, the activists hurled brick chunks at the bus and then set it afire pouring petrol, he said.

In Chittagong, pickets torched three vehicles -- a truck, a microbus and a private car -- in Panchlaish area, reports our correspondent.

Quoting locals, police said a group of 15 to 20 youths got down from a city bus near Baby Super Market around 8:30am and poured petrol on three vehicles parked beside a road.

They ran away to different directions after setting those on fire, said Mohiuddin Mahmud, officer-in-charge Panchlaish Police Station.

In Savar, police arrested five Shibir leaders and activists while they were vandalising vehicles after a demonstration in Gazirchat area yesterday morning.