More arrests as ‘blockade’ continues

A schoolboy received burn injuries as a group of miscreants set fire to a passenger bus in the city's New Market area on Wednesday, the 72nd day of nonstop countrywide transport blockade enforced by the BNP alliance alongside its ongoing spell of hartal.
An activist of Jamaat-e-Islami was hacked to death by alleged Chhatra League activists at Madhabkunda Bazar in Baralekha upazila of Moulvibazar on the day. The local unit of Jamaat called dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district protesting the killing.
 The day also was marked with stray incidents of violence and arrests.
Police arrested 74 BNP-Jamaat activists in Jessore, six in Magura, eight in Bogra, 40 in Rangpur, 26 in Khulna, 72 in Chittagong, eight in Noakhali and seven in Jhenidah on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
The burn victim at New Market in the city was identified as Mehedi Hasan, son of Mohammad Hasan Iqbal and a resident of Dhakeshwari area. He is a student of class nine at the Bangladesh-German Technical School at Mirpur.
He is undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
Confirming the incident, operator at the Fire Service headquarters Ziaur Rahman told the FE that two units of fire fighters from Palashi area rushed to the spot and doused the fire.
Members of RAB and police in a joint drive arrested two persons along with 72 crude bombs from a residence in the capital's Lalbagh area.
The arrestees are Badsha, 44, and Anis, 30.
RAB 10 members and police raided the house and arrested them around 1am Wednesday.
The law enforcers also recovered 2kg Potassium, a sizable amount of splinter and bomb making materials in the raid.
Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of RAB's legal and media wing, confirmed the information.
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