JCD leader among two found dead

A young man was killed in a 'gunfight' between a gang of arsonists and policemen in city's Jatrabari area on Monday, the 35th day of the countrywide blockade and the second day of a 72-hour hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Besides, two bodies, including that of a JCD leader, were recovered from Dhaka and Comilla early Monday while incidents of arson attacks and detention were reported from various parts of the country.
Officer-in-Charge of Jatrabari Police Station Oboni Shankar said a team of detective branch (DB) of police chased a gang of arsonists at Matuail in the city after they hurled petrol bomb at a truck about 4:30 am.
A truck helper, who suffered burn injuries in an arson attack on his vehicle on February 2, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) on Monday afternoon.
Sensing trouble, the gang members opened fire on the plainclothes policemen, prompting them to retaliate that led to the shootout. "And Rasel, 27, was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot," he said.
But victim's wife Shefali Begum rejected the allegation and said, "I have been looking for him at different police stations as he remained missing since Thursday morning."
Hailed from Fatullah in Narayanganj, Rasel worked at a mobile servicing centre in Sadarghat area, she said.
Police also recovered the body of an unidentified youth from Kalshi in city's Cantonment area and found 14 crude and petrol bombs beside his body Monday morning.
The body was recovered from near Kalshi bridge around 6:00am, said Atiqur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Cantonment police station.
In Rajshahi, Shahidul Islam (Truck helper), 35, succumbed to his injuries at the RMCH burn unit around 4:45pm after fighting for life for eight days, said in-charge of the unit Dr A Naznin.
Shahidul sustained burn injuries when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at his truck in Mollahpara Bypass area of the city around 8:30pm on February 2.
Meanwhile, locals beat up two Dhaka University students for blasting crude bombs near Jagannath Hall and handed them over to Rapid Action Battalion Monday morning.
The duo -- Shafiul Shuvo and Harunur Rashid are master's students of statistics and Arabic literature departments respectively - have been made accused in a case filed under the explosives act, said Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station.
Miscreants exploded crude bombs at Topkhana Road, Jagannath University campus and District Court premises in the city.
In Comilla, Daudkandi highway policemen recovered the body of a young man from in front of Hasanpur College in the early morning.
On information, family members of the victim rushed to the hospital and identified the body as Sohel, a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader of Chouddagram upazila unit.  
The families claimed that some 10-12 people identifying themselves as law enforcers took him away and he remained missing since then.
In Munshiganj, miscreants torched a bus and a book-laden truck Monday morning. Police also recovered three petrol bombs from in front of Morning Sun Petrol Pump where the book-laden truck was torched.
    jubairfe1980@gmail.com