Police probing dead, injured

Investigators are looking into the conducts of the people who died and were injured in Saturday's twin blasts in Sylhet.

Six people were killed and more than 50 were injured and police are looking into why they were there and their background.

Besides talking to doctors and the injured admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, police have kept the bodies of Shahidul Islam and Khadem Shah at the morgue, saying they were collecting information on them.

“Some of the injured and the dead have apparently raised suspicion. We are collecting their addresses, why they were there and if they were residents of Sylhet. We are trying to see if they had any connection [to the attacks],” Additional Commissioner Rokonuddin of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) told reporters in Shibbari area. 

The first of the two bombs went off in Shibbari area around 7:00pm on Saturday, minutes after Brig Gen Fakhrul Ahsan finished briefing newsmen on Operation Twilight. The spot was about 400 metres north of Atia Mahal, where militants are holed up. The second blast was around an hour later, this time closer to Atia Mahal.

“These were definitely militant attacks. They were near a militant den. Our officers are investigating it. We will take action according to the findings,” Rokonuddin added. 

He, however, said the investigators were struggling to find leads as there were 1,000-1,500 villagers present near the spots.

“Since there were a lot of people, it will take time to find out how it happened and who was behind it. The place was crowded. People are just too curious. Our men were there. But it was really difficult for us with that many people around,” he said.

Intelligence Wing chief of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Lt Col Abul Kalam Azad, who suffered serious injuries in one of the blasts, has been flown to Singapore for treatment.

An air ambulance departed with him around 8:00pm yesterday, according to Maj Roysul Azam, deputy director of Rab's Legal and Media Wing.

“He will be admitted to Mount Elizabeth Hospital,” Mufti Mahmud Khan, director (media) of Rab, told The Daily Star.

The six deceased have been identified as Monirul Islam, inspector (investigation) of Jalalabad Police Station, Sylhet; Chowdhury Md Abu Koysor, court inspector in Sylhet; traders Shahidul Islam and Khadim Shah; and Bangladesh Chhatra League activists Jannatul Fahim and Wahidul Islam Opu.

INVESTIGATION

Police were trying to identify and trace a man in his mid-30s who registered at the hospital as Faruk Ahmed but went missing soon after, said an SMP inspector asking not to be named. 

The inspector added that they were also gathering information on Shirin Miah, 30, who was admitted with splinters to his left leg.

Shirin told The Daily Star that he was a cook at a diner for bus drivers at Kadamtali Bus Stand in the city. He added that he was walking home after offering his prayers when he was injured by the blast and was brought to the hospital. He hails from Sunamganj.

One of the deceased Shahidul was an organiser of Tabligh Jamaat, said police officials and locals. 

The inspector added that bodies of four victims had been handed over to their families.

THE BLASTS

“While reporters were leaving after the press briefing [of Brig Gen Ahsan], the villagers must have thought that the raid was over and they in their hundreds thronged the area to see what was going on,” said Rokonuddin. 

Officer-in-Charge Shah Harunur Rashid of Dakshin Surma Police Station said after the first explosion, he was trying to handle the crowd.

He said, “It was dark. I noticed a yellow shopping bag on the road. My senior colleagues asked me to tell the people to steer clear. They called in their seniors, who arrived soon.

“I was facing the crowd. They were closer to the bag and probably were inspecting it while I was a little bit away trying to shoo away the crowd. About five to six minutes later the second explosion rocked the area.”

He had splinter injuries in his right leg.

The hospital said they had received 50 injured in the ongoing operation and 28 of them were still in hospital yesterday.