5 hurt in Dhaka blasts

The Dhaka city dwellers are going to their destinations on rickshaws as the presence of public transports are thin on the first day of the opposition-called 36-hour shutdown on Tuesday. The photo is taken at Nayapaltan. Photo: Firoz Ahmed 

Five people, including a woman Jubo League leader, sustained bomb injuries in different parts of the capital during the first day of a 36-hour hartal (shutdown) on Tuesday.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced the shutdown protesting denial of bail to seven top BNP leaders.

The Jubo League leader was identified as Morjina Begum, 42, general secretary of ward No. 53 of Jubo League unit.

The shutdown that began at 6:00am amid tight security would continue till 6:00pm Wednesday.

The incidents of injuries took place at Zurain, Gulistan, Fulbaria Bus Station, Babu Bazar bridge and Tantibazar area of Old Dhaka.

Vandalism and incidents of more explosion were also reported from different parts of the capital including Mirpur, Hatirjheel, Dholaikhal in Old Dhaka and Dholaipar in Jatrabari.

Pro-hartal activists vandalised five rickshaws and four CNG-run three-wheelers in Mirpur-1 around 8:15am and a CNG-run three-wheeler in Hatirjheel area in the morning.

Pickets blasted at least 15 homemade bombs in Mirpur, Dholaikhal and Dholaipar.

Law enforcers recovered three crude bombs from Ansar Camp area of Mirpur-1 around 6:00am, said Imtiaj Ahmed, deputy commissioner of police of Mirpur zone.

Witnesses however claimed that five unexploded bombs were recovered.

Hartal supporters also brought out processions in different parts of the capital including Motijheel, Mirpur and Dholaikhal areas in support of their shutdown.

The spell of shutdown virtually halted businesses, hampered education and traffic movements in the city.

Even the roadside shops and shopping malls remain locked.

Huge contingents of police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were deployed at all the key points of the capital to maintain law and order during hartal hours.

The presence of vehicles including buses and CNG-run three-wheelers was thin on the usually-clogged thoroughfares of Dhaka, our correspondents reported.

Private cars kept off the streets fearing vandalism.

Rickshaws were seen reigning over the city streets.

INJURY

The Jubo League leader and her 19-year old daughter Rokeya Hassan Rupali, an HSC examinee, were injured when a handmade bomb went off in front of her Zurain residence.

The crude bomb was kept in a polythene bag in front of the main gate of Morjina's residence.

The explosion occurred when Morjina picked up the polythene bag.

In Gulistan Sirajul Islam, 50, a passer-by was injured when a homemade bomb exploded in front of Fulbaria Bus Stand around 12:45pm.

Pro-hartal activists threw a cocktail near Babu Bazar Bridge in the afternoon, leaving rickshaw-puller Abdur Razzak, 50, injured.

Another pedestrian, Shahjahan, 50, was injured in a bomb attack by hartal supporters at Tantibazar around 12:30pm.

Of the injured, Morjina, Rupali and Sirajul were rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital while Razzak to Mitford Hospital and Shahjahan to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor).

BNP CENTRAL OFFICE

Law enforcers like other hartal days remain on guard the BNP’s central office in Nayapaltan since early morning.

Shamsuzzaman Dudu, an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, along with some leaders and activists of the party came to the head office early morning and was staying inside it when this report was filed.

BACKGROUND

The 18-party alliance announced the shutdown on Sunday immediately after the court ordered bails to three BNP lawmakers but denied bails to seven other leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

The opposition alliance would also enforce hartal on Thursday if the government obstructed its hartals and kept harassing opposition leaders, Hamadullah Al Mehedi, secretary general of Bangladesh Labour Party, a component of the alliance, told The Daily Star earlier.

Meanwhile, pro-hartal activists torched 12 vehicles in different parts of the city on Monday on the eve of the shutdown, creating panic among the city dwellers.