|
Train forced to derail; 30 hurt; 17 Shibir men held
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 30 passengers were maimed as six compartments of a Chittagong-bound train from Dhaka derailed in Comilla after unidentified people removed several fishplates from the railway tracks, nearly an hour before the beginning of yesterday's hartal... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... The daylong shutdown, enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance and Shibir, was marked by vandalising of vehicles, cocktail blasts and arson attacks across the country. More than 50 people were maimed in festivities between pro-hartal activists, police and ruling party men in Dinajpur, Narayanganj and Joypurhat districts. With yesterday's shutdown, the alliance has enforced hartals for 17 days since January 31 this year. At Chirirbandar in Dinajpur, Jamaat-Shibir men in a show of sheer brutality thrashed the head of a policeman with bricks and injured 13 of his colleagues, witnesses and police said. Critically injured Abdus Sabur, on-duty district intelligence officer of the Special Branch of police, was undergoing treatment at Rangpur Medical College Hospital. A clash between cops and Jamaat-Shibir activists ensued following the attack. Three activists sustained rubber-bullet wounds in police firing. Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco... Shibir enforces a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions today demanding the release of its chief Delwar Hossain. The ongoing HSC and equivalent examinations, however, will remain out of the purview of the hartal, said an unsigned email from Shibir. Six compartments and the locomotive of the Chittagong-bound Turna Nishitha Express veered off the railway tracks at Shrimantapur in Comilla Sadar (South) upazila around 4:35am, 10 minutes after it left Comilla railway station, reports a correspondent. Posted by: Fred 2013-04-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=365391 |