Prothom Alo carrier, 5 other vehicles torched

Six vehicles, including the carrier of daily Prothom Alo, were set ablaze and six others vandalised in six districts today during BNP-led 20-party alliance’s countrywide blockade.

In Noakhali, a newspaper carrier of Bangla daily Prothom Alo was torched in Senbagh upazila of around 7:15am, the daily reports. The vehicle’s driver and helper were injured.

Over 4,000 copies of today’s Prothom Alo were burned in the arson that took place as the 20-party alliance’s nonstop blockade demanding fresh national polls entered ninth day.

Ismail Hossain, driver of the car said a group of about eight stopped the vehicle en route to Chittagong after delivery of paper in Noakhali town. “They wanted copies of the daily Naya Diganta. Later, they forced us out and set the vehicle on fire.”

Mominul Islam, officer-in-charge of Senbagh Police Station rushed to the spot after receiving information. He blamed Jamaat-e-Islami activists for the arson. “Police have already begun a manhunt to find the miscreants,”

In Chittagong, two passengers got on a passenger bus and set it on fire in Solo Sahar area of the city around 8:45am, our local correspondent reports quoting Golam Kibria, sub-inspector of Panchlaish Police Station.

No one was reported injured.

In Chandpur, pro-blockade supporters set ablaze a goods-laden truck in Shahrasti upazila on the Chandpur-Comilla road around 6:00am. A truck and five CNG-run auto-rickshaws were vandalised at scene, our local correspondent reports.

Nirmal Chandra Sarkar, station master of Shahrasti Fire Service and Civil Defence , endorsed the arson and acts of vandalism to The Daily Star.

At least two buses were set on fire in Joypurhat around 12:50am, Chapainawabganj’s Rahampur around 3:40am and a bus in Comilla around 5:00am, Fire Service and Civil Defence sources.

The other details could not be known immediately.