Miscreants set fire to buses within the span of an hour on Sunday night in Dhaka’s Dhamrai and Savar, police said. No injuries were reported.
The first attack took place at around 10pm near the Dhulivita bus stand in Dhamrai, where three men on two motorbikes allegedly broke the rear window of a parked D-Link Paribahan bus and ignited it. Locals attempted to put out the flames before a Fire Service unit arrived and extinguished the fire, though most of the seats inside the bus were destroyed.
A night guard on duty, Faruq, said the attackers hurled bricks at the bus before lighting it with what appeared to be gunpowder. Fire Service officials later confirmed that gunpowder was likely used. Police in Dhamrai said efforts were underway to identify the perpetrators.
Around 30 minutes later, another parked bus- belonging to Alif Paribahan- was torched near Bottola by the Birulia embankment in Savar.
Md Abdul Wahab, in-charge of Birulia Police Outpost under Savar Model Police Station said the owner of the bus, Amjad Hossain, had parked the bus of Alif Transport around 8:30pm and went home for dinner. Around 10:45pm, upon receiving news of the fire, he went to the spot and, with the help of local people, extinguished the fire.
Amjad Hossain said, “The entire bus is burnt. The loss in this incident is at least five lakh taka.”
Police said the owner, who also drove the bus, had purchased it with a loan. An investigation is under way to determine who set the vehicle alight.
