Hartal underway amid arson, blasts

Miscreants set afire two buses in Bogra and Pirojpur today on the second day of the 72-hour nationwide hartal sponsored by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Meanwhile, police detained 29 people and recovered five petrol bombs from different places in Dhaka and Bogra in 24 hours till 9:00am today in connections of planning subversive activities during the hartal.

The alliance enforced the hartal protesting “repression” on its leaders and activists and also demanding fresh inclusive parliamentary election under a neutral government.

In Bogra, miscreants riding a motorbike went to Thanthania Bus Stand area and set afire the bus of Bablu Paribahan around 6:00am, police told our Bogra correspondent quoting witnesses.

Police fired eight rounds of rubber bullets when the pro-hartal activists exploded three crude bombs there, said Gaziur Rahman, assistant superintend of police (media) in Bogra.

None was injured in the incident, the police official said.

Later, police detained one Jahangir Alam, 56, a former ward commissioner of Sherpur municipality, from the town in this connection.

In Pirojpur, unidentified pickets torched a bus parked at Bandaria Bus Stand in Bhandaria upazila of Pirojpur around 1:00am.

None was injured in the incident, reports our Pirojpur correspondent quoting witnesses.

In Dhaka, police conducted raid at different places and detained 27 activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, suspected of subversive activities during the hartal, a source from Dhaka Metropolitan Police told The Daily Star.

Meanwhile, police arrested a BNP activist and recovered five petrol bombs in Nandail area of Keraniganj upazila on the outskirts of the capital, reports UNB.

The arrested was identified as Kalim Hossain, 50, a resident of the area.

The law enforcers conducted a drive in Kalim’s 3-storey building around 8:30am and recovered the petrol bombs from a room on the ground floor.

Later, police arrested Kalim in this connection.

Shah Alam, sub-inspector of Keraniganj Model Police Station, confirmed the incident.

The BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced the latest spell of hartal on top of the nonstop nationwide blockade that enters its 42nd day today.