A series of arson and crude bomb attacks and blockades targeting vehicles and infrastructure, allegedly carried out by Awami League (AL) activists across the country on Sunday, has triggered fresh security concerns.
The sabotage attempts were made a day before the International Crimes Tribunal is scheduled to deliver its verdict against AL president and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a crimes against humanity case, which will be handed down in her absence today.
The attacks targeted public vehicles, ambulances, Grameen Bank offices and key roads in Kushtia, Comilla, Sylhet, Gazipur and Madaripur.
Besides, at least 46 Awami League activists were arrested in different raids and during attempts of sabotage in Cumilla, Madaripur and Sirajganj.
Two petrol bombs were thrown at the Grameen Bank Maona–Sreepur branch in Bartopa Bazar of Sreepur, Gazipur, at around 2:15am, burning the organisation’s signboard but causing no other damage, according to the bank’s area manager Md Abdur Razzak.
Sreepur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Abdul Barik told TIMES they are trying to apprehend the miscreants by scrutinising CCTV footage.
In Sylhet, miscreants set fire to a government hospital ambulance and a vehicle in two separate incidents early Sunday. The ambulance was torched while parked at the Shahid Dr Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital premises in Chowhatta, while a bus was set ablaze at the Kumargaon bus stand.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (Media) Md Saiful Islam told reporters on Sunday morning that unidentified individuals were responsible for setting the vehicles on fire, adding that firefighters rushed to the spots and brought the flames under control.
In Madharipur’s Kalkini, AL activists enforced a blockade early Sunday by placing a large tree trunk across the Dhaka–Barishal highway at Gopalpur halting traffic for nearly four hours before the situation was brought under control with the assistance of district and upazila administrations, additional district Superintendent of Police Jahangir Alam said.
In Kushtia, unidentified miscreants set fire to a truck parked beside in Aruapara area while shouting ‘Joy Bangla’ with no casualties reported in the incident on early Sunday.
A 51-second video of the arson was widely circulated on Facebook, showing two young men setting fire to a truck, one of them wearing a helmet and chanting slogan. Kushtia Model Police Station OC said they are trying to capture the perpetrators by assessing the video footage.
In Madaripur, police arrested Zahidul Islam Shishir Bepari, 27, a member of Chhatra League unit at Madaripur Government College and nephew of former MP Abdus Sobhan Golap under Anti-Terrorism Act on early Sunday.
In Sirajganj, police arrested Abdul Jalil, former chairman of Udunia Union Parishad and senior vice-president of union AL, in a sabotage case, on Saturday and later sent him to jail through a court, Ullapara Model Police Station OC Ekramul Haque said.
Police in Cumilla city detained 44 BCL activists upon allegations of planning a flash procession and acts of sabotage, picking up 29 of them from the Tomchom Bridge, Badurtala and Dharmasagarpar areas of the city and another 15 from different upazilas in the district on Sunday.
Kotwali Model Police Station OC Mahinul Islam said cases are being processed under several charges including preparation for subversive activities.
Rajbari’s district Detective Branch arrested Md Abu Bakkar Khan, convener of district Krishak League, in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, from his home in Rajbari Sadar upazila on late Saturday, district DB OC Mafizul Islam said.
