Blockade violence takes 2 more lives

Two more people died in violence yesterday, raising the death toll to 13 in the ongoing BNP-led combine's indefinite blockade.

On the eighth day of the blockade, pickets torched and vandalised dozens of vehicles including a newspaper carrying microbus. Six vehicles were burnt across the country, fire service officials said.

Pro-blockade supporters blasted a string of crude bombs in the capital as well as several districts while law enforcers recovered five bombs in the capital, police sources said.

Law enforcers picked up over 150 BNP-Jamaat men from five districts and sued several hundred activists of the parties for yesterday's violence.

The launch service was normal. But trains were still running behind schedule fearing violence during the journey and it would take one more week to get them back on schedule, a top railway official said.

Although the number of long-route buses has increased, people are still suffering for lack of vehicles at district levels.

Amid this chaotic situation, the BNP-led alliance has called hartal in Pabna and Rangpur today and in Sylhet, Joypurhat and ten districts of Khulna tomorrow.  The Khulna districts are Jessore, Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Narail, Jhenidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Kushtia and Magura.

Both of yesterday's deaths were caused allegedly by pro-blockade pickets.

In Chittagong, a man was killed when a truck on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway under Mirsarai upazila skidded off into a roadside ditch after pickets threw petrol bombs at it on Monday night. The deceased was identified as Enam Hossain, 33, who hailed from Satkania upazila in Chittagong.

Two other persons -- Hafez Hannan, 35, and Suman Shil, 32 -- were also injured in the incident, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

Najmul Hasan, sub-inspector (SI) of Jorarganj police station said victims were rushed to a local hospital where on-duty doctors declared Enam dead at around 11:00pm yesterday.

In Noakhali Sadar upazila, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver was killed after being hit by brickbats hurled allegedly by pickets early yesterday.

The victim Jamir Uddin, 32, was from Char Jabber village under Subarnachar upazila of the district.

Although newspaper-carrying vehicles were out of the blockade's ambit, pickets vandalised a micro-bus carrying copies of the daily Prothom Alo of the district's Senbag yesterday morning. Injured driver Afzal Hossain, 29, and the helper Choton, 20, were admitted to the Senbag Upazila Health Complex. Police arrested one person in this connection.

Meanwhile, in the capital four crude bombs went off near a stage where Health Minister Mohammad Nasim was seated during a programme on the Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital premises. None however was injured in the blast.

Porikkhit Chowdhury, public relations officer of the ministry, said two bombs exploded behind the dais while two more in front around 1:30pm. Yet the programme, organised by voluntary organisation Sandhani, continued amid tight security.

Five crude bombs were recovered from the Dhaka University's Arts Faculty building and Mokarram Bhaban yesterday morning while the 49th convocation of the country's premier public university was about to begin.

Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station, students found four explosives inside a toilet on the ground floor of the Arts Faculty building. A team of bomb disposal unit of Detective Branch (DB) recovered the bombs around 11:00am.

The detectives recovered the other bomb from near the entrance of Mokarram Bhaban, which is adjacent to the convocation place. No one was arrested yet in this connection.

Police picked up three youths from Motijheel with five crude bombs after they exploded several bombs there.

In Pabna, police detained three top-ranking Jamaat leaders including the Ameer of Pabna Jamaat yesterday morning.

Acting on a tip off, police picked up Pabna district unit Jamaat Ameer Abdur Rahim, Ameer of Poura Jamaat Abdul Latif and district unit Jamaat leader Iqbal Hossain, sources said.

Iqbal Hossain is also chairman of Pabna unit's Olama Mashayakh Parishad, a Jamaat's establishment in the district headquarters.

They were accused in several criminal cases in connection with arson and vandalism, police sources said.