Arson, bomb blasts mark blockade

A young man was killed and several others were injured in an arson attack at Gobindaganj in Gaibandha as the countrywide indefinite blockade, enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, continued for the seventh consecutive day on Monday.
The deceased was identified as Parvez, 25. He was crushed under the wheels of a truck when he jumped off a bus to escape a petrol bomb attack by alleged blockaders in the early hours.
Officer-in-Charge of Gobindaganj police station ABM Jahidul Islam said the blockaders threw a petrol bomb on a Dhaka-bound bus of NR Paribahan at Kalitala in the upazila about 12:30am.
Sensing danger, Parvez jumped from the bus to escape the attack and was run over by a speedy truck, the police officer said, adding that three more passengers were also injured in the arson attack.
Incidents of clashes, setting fire to vehicles, arrest of opposition leaders and bomb blasts were also reported from various parts of the country including Dhaka, Bogra, Gazipur, Netrakona, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Comilla, Narsingdi and Tangail.
Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) picked up two BNP leaders, including Joint Secretary General Mohammad Shahjahan, from a flat in the capital's Gulshan area in the early hours.
Media Wing's Deputy Director of the elite force Rumman Mahmud said they arrested former lawmaker Mohammad Shahjahan, also president of Noakhali district unit of BNP, and BNP Executive Committee member Belal Ahmed from a residence of Shahjahan's relative.
"We came to know that they were conspiring against the government," he said, adding that the detainees were taken to the RAB headquarters for interrogation.
The law enforcers also arrested BNP assistant office secretary Shamim on the day.
Three buses were torched at Norda, Jatrabari and Gulistan while handmade bombs went off Azimpur, Central Shaheed Minar premises, Bangsal, Suritola and Hatirpool areas of the capital that left at least 8 people inured.  
Besides, leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, staged demonstrations burning tyres on the street in front of Al Halal Hospital in Mirpur in the afternoon, but they left the place immediately.
In Gazipur, vehicles were set on fire during the strike called by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in the district.
Police nabbed four persons, including a central leader of Swechchhasebak Dal, from Tongi's Cheragali and Joydebpur areas on criminal charges in the morning, OC of Tongi police station Kazi Ismail Hossain said.
He said the pickets also set a private car ablaze during a pro-strike demonstration in Cheragali area on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway around 7:15am.
In Narsinghdi, miscreants set fire to the railway track near Amirganj railway station in Raypura upazila around 9:30am, OC of Raypura police station Mizanur Rahman said.
They also vandalised a covered van and ignited a fire on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway near the Beranagar bus stop, he added.
Miscreants torched a human hauler at Manikganj bus stand in Sadar upazila in the morning.
A passenger bus and a covered van were also torched in two separate attacks at Shashongacha bus stand and Sagordighi area of Sadar Dakkhin upazila in Comilla.
A vegetables-laden covered van and a truck were also torched on the day at South Surma of Sylhet and Rajshahi Airport area by the blockaders.
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