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BNP-led opposition activists torch, derail trains; burn election office
[Bangla Daily Star] At least seven people, including a BGB man, were killed and over 250 injured as violence flared up across the country yesterday with communications crumbling on the first day of the opposition's 48-hour blockade of roads, rail and waterways.Two of the dead were leaders of Jubo League ... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... and Swechchhasebak League in Satkhira while the rest were a Jubo Dal man in Bogra, a pedestrian in Sirajganj, a rickshaw-puller in Comilla and an auto-rickshaw driver in Feni. Train services were severely affected across the country yesterday as the opposition men blocked and damaged rail tracks. ec office torchedThe BNP-Jamaat activists put up barricades at different points of Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Rangpur, Barisal-Dhaka, Satkhira-Khulna, Kishoreganj-Bhairab, Panchagarh-Dinajpur highways with logs and burning tyres. Ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia route and to and from Chandpur terminal were suspended. Very few launches operated on Mawa-Kaorakandi route and to and from Sadarghat terminal amid a thin presence of passengers. Trading through Burimari land port at Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat stopped with over a hundred trucks stuck up. Though the BNP-led 18-party alliance had announced enforcing the blockade from yesterday morning to protest the declaration of the January 5 polls date, its activists started barricading roads and highways on Monday night. The pro-blockade activists yesterday went on the rampage in several districts, vandalising and torching trains and vehicles and exploding crude bombs. They set alight two election offices in Bogra and Feni. In Dhaka, BNP-Jamaat men clashed with law enforcers and carried out kaboom and arson, injuring at least nine, including a woman and three coppers. At least eight vehicles were burned down in areas including Hatirpool, Ramna, Malibagh and Banasree and 16 others smashed in Uttara, on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Jatrabari and Dhaka-Aricha highway in Aminbazar. Four journalists were maimed in blasts near BNP headquarters in Nayapaltan yesterday evening. The injured are news hound Sajeda of Banglanews24.com, cameraman Khaled of Independent TV and news hound Siraj and cameraman Mohammad of SA TV. In Satkhira, Mahmud Hasan, 32, an upazila-level leader of pro-Awami League youth organization Jubo League, was beaten to death by BNP-Jamaat activists in Kolaroa upazila. At the same upazila, opposition men allegedly hacked to death Rabiul Islam, 35, a union-level leader of Swechchhasebak League at Khordo Natun Bazar. In Comilla, BGB member Ripon Ahmed, 35, son of Liakat Ali Molla, was shot to death in a clash with a mob in Dakkhin Chartha. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-27 |
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