There continued to be fresh incidents of bomb attacks across Bangladesh nearly three weeks since a blockade was imposed.
While dozens of injured, including women and minors, struggled with their lives in overcrowded hospitals, attackers set fire to a three-decked motor launch at Dhaka’s main Sadarghat launch terminal on Sunday, injuring several passengers.
Meanwhile, the overburdened National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute at Dhaka Medical College Hospital struggled to meet the needs of burn victims. The 300 bed hospital now has 517 patients, the majority of them victims of arson attacks on transport vehicles.
Police on Saturday initiated a criminal case against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, accusing her and several others of ‘instigating arson’ in Dhaka’s Jatrabari area, where 28 bus passengers sustained serious burn injuries when alleged pro-blockade activists attacked the vehicle with petrol bombs on Friday night.
Police filed the case against 18 BNP leaders, including Khaleda Zia, stand accused for “conspiring and instigating” the bomb attack. Fifty other BNP leaders and activists have been accused of carrying out the attack in the case.
According to popular daily Prothom Alo, the 20 day-long agitation has killed 33 people, 13 of them in arson attacks. The daily also said a total of 720 vehicles came under attack including five incidents of sabotages in the railways.
