Bomb blasts rattle Bangladesh capital

Bomb blasts rattled the capital and police used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters as an anti-government strike entered the third day, yesterday, leaving at least 10 people injured
A four-party opposition alliance called yesterday's nationwide strike – the fifth this month – to demand Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and early general elections.

Nearly 5,000 riot police and paramilitary troops patrolled the city and cordoned off major downtown roads to prevent opposition activists from marching to government offices in the area. Strike supporters hurled a homemade bomb at a police patrol near the downtown headquarters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, wounding three policemen. The bomb was thrown at a police patrol near Kakrail during a scuffle between the law enforcers and BNP activists.

They also torched several cycle-rickshaws. At least five people were injured when police used tear gas and batons to disperse the opposition activists. Police arrested three people at the scene. Witnesses and police said the incident occurred when a procession from the BNP central office came across a barbed wire barricade at the Kakrail crossing. Enraged by the obstruction, those in the procession engaged in an altercation with police. Soon after a bomb exploded, baton-wielding police lobbed several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the agitators.

Opposition activists torched or damaged several rickshaws in the capital, especially in Shajahanpur, Mouchak, Malibag, Bijoynagar and Naya Paltan areas. Three consecutive days of strikes and shut-downs have claimed five lives, including that of a policeman.

The five were killed on Tuesday when a pro-strike procession of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came under armed attack from ruling Awami League activists. Three people were killed in the firing while the policeman was allegedly shot by fleeing BNP men. The BNP-led four-party opposition alliance called a day-long countrywide strike to protest the arrest of two top leaders of the Islamic Oikya Jote (IOJ).

IOJ leaders – Shaikul Hadit Azizul Huq and Fazlul Huq Amini – were arrested on February 4 following the death of a police constable inside a mosque during the February 3 strike called to protest the ban on fatwa (religious edicts) by the High Court. The opposition alliance on Tuesday extended the strike by two more days to protest attacks on their procession and the killing of four people. On Wednesday, another man was killed in a bomb attack in the city's Lalbagh area.

In spite of the strike, a large number of rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and tempos plied the streets. Some minibuses and big buses were also seen. Nearly 5,000 riot police and paramilitary troops patrolled the city and cordoned off major downtown roads to prevent opposition activists from marching to government offices in the area.

Supporters and opponents of the strike brought out separate processions in other parts of the city, but no clashes were reported. Most businesses, schools and private offices stayed closed and cars kept off the streets during the three days of forced shutdown. Government offices, banks, hospitals, newspapers and factories remained open, but attendance was low. Trains, ferries and airline flights ran on schedule.