At least five people were killed and scores injured on Friday as
activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir went on the
rampage at different places across the country after the execution of
their leader Abdul Quader Molla for committing crimes against humanity
in 1971.
Two ruling party men were hacked to death in
Satkhira, a
vendor in Noakhali, a BNP activist in Pirojpur and a Jamaat activist
died in Jessore in violence that flared up after the 66-year old Quader
Molla was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail at 10:01pm on Thursday as the
first convict in a war crimes case.
Jamaat-Shibir men set fire to
more than 100 vehicles, including trucks and covered vans, across the
country. In Bogra alone, over 50 vehicles, mostly trucks, were torched.
In
the capital, at least 15 people, including a schoolboy, were injured as
Jamaat-Shibir activists rampaged through the streets fighting pitched
battles with the police, torching vehicles, attacking shops and hurling
crude bombs.
They set at least 12 vehicles on fire in different areas of the city.
Traffic
on many routes, including Dhaka-Rajshahi, Dhaka-Chittagong and
Dhaka-Dinajpur, remained suspended although the blockade enforced by the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance in protest at the scheduled
January 5 elections ended on Friday morning, according to transport
operators.
Train services across the country were also disrupted on the day as attacks on railway establishments continued.
Azizur
Rahman Dalal, 55, a local Awami League leader and Jahan Ali alias Joj
Miah, a Juba Leauge activist, were stabbed to death allegedly by
Jamaat-Shibir men in separate attacks in Kalaroa upazila of Satkhira
early Friday, said Kalaroa police officer-in-charge Shah Dara Khan.
The
police and witnesses said that suspected Shibir men had forced their
way into Aziz’s house after midnight and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving
him dead on the spot.
They also vandalised the house of Aziz, president of a ward unit of Awami Legue in Kalaroa municipality.
Hours
after the incident, Jahan Ali, Juba League president of a ward unit in
Saraskati union, was abducted allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir men from his
home in Saraskati village. Minutes later, family members found his body
with marks of stab near the house.
Jamaat-Shibir activists also
vandalised and torched houses of several Awami League leaders, ruling
party offices, vehicles and shops in Ashashuni, Sadar and Kaliganj
upazilas, witnesses said.
In Pirojpur, Shukkur Ali, 25, a local
activist of BNP, was killed and six people were injured during clashes
with Awami League activists at Ghosherhat Bazar in Bhandaria before
dawn, said Bhandaria police officer-in-charge Kamruzzaman Talukder.
In
Noakhali, street vendor Khorshed Alam, 30, of Sonaimuri upazila, was
shot dead and a rickshaw puller was injured as opposition activists
clashed with Rapid Action Battalion and ruling party men at Afaniabazar
in Begumganj upazila early Friday, said Begumganj police OC Nazim Uddin.
In
Jessore, a Jamaat activist, Ashraful, 20, of village Mohiran, was
knocked down and killed by a truck when he along with some other Jamaat
men was trying to block the road by felling trees in Bolteghata area on
Bagharpara-Charabhita road at about 3:00am, said Bagharpara police
officer-in-charge GG Biswas. The Jamaat-Shibir men set the truck on
fire, he added.
Jamaat-Shibir activists also put blockades on the Jessore-Khulna road and Jessore-Benapole road.
There were incidents of arson attacks and clashes in Dhaka city after the Friday prayers as elsewhere across the country.
New
Age Gazipur correspondent reported that at least 10 people, including
two policemen and a station master, were injured as miscreants set fire
to Joydevpur railway station early Friday.
Control room, computer
room and telephone line of the station were completely burnt in the
arson attack that forced suspension of train services on six routes from
Dhaka and Gazipur for hours.
Zia Uddin Sardar, Joydevpur station
master, told New Age that miscreants numbering around 30 had attacked
the station around 8:00am and went on the rampage.
Fire engines from Gazipur put out the flames after an hour’s efforts.
Joydevpur police OC Quamruzzaman said that Jamaat-Shibir men had mounted the arson attack.
Police
quickly arrived at the scene and fired rubber bullets to control the
situation but could not arrest anyone. Sub-inspector Dulal Akand and
constable Anwar Hossain received head injuries in the attack.
At
Motijheel AGB colony and Kamalapur areas in Dhaka city, police fired
shots after Jamaat-Shibir men torched six vehicles. Schoolboy Shanto and
Banglavision cameraperson Ujjal were injured in the violence, said
witnesses.
Police arrested seven suspects, including Dhaka College
student Mofizur Rahman, said Motijheel police sub-inspector
Harun-or-Rashid.
At Kamalapur, Jamaat-Shibir men torched a bus at about the same time.
‘Police fled the scene after crude bombs were hurled at them,’ said witnesses.
A
bus and a covered van were torched at Malibagh Chowdhuripara after juma
prayers, said Ramna police officer-in-charge Moshiur Rahman. Shibir men
also set ablaze four vehicles at Rampura at about the same time,
according to witnesses.
Jamaat-Shibir activists struck terror at
various places in Chittagong, including Satkania, Lohagara, Banshkhali
and Sitakunda, vandalising and torching scores of vehicles and shops.
Shibir
men set ablaze at least 17 shops owned by Awami League men at Sadar
Amir Haat and near the sub-registrar’s office and vandalised at least 11
shops on Friday in Boitoli Bazar in Banshkhali upazila, said Banshkhali
police OC Quamrul Islam.
Jamaat men blocked the road disrupting traffic in Lohagara upazila early Friday, said Lohagara police OC Mohammad Shajahan.
In
Sylhet, Jamaat-Shibir activists hurled crude bombs at a police station
and an oil depot, torched a vehicle and tried to block roads by putting
logs in the city and on its outskirts on Thursday night after Quader
Molla was hanged.
They exploded five crude bombs in front of
Jalalabad police station at Kumargaon-Temukhi around 10:30pm Thursday
and hurled two bombs at Padma Petroleum’s depot at Dakkhin Surma in the
city around 10:00pm, said Sylhet Metropolitan Police additional deputy
commissioner Mohammad Ayub.
In Chapainawabganj, activists of
Jamaat-Shibir vandalised six branch offices of Prime Bank, Mercantile
Bank, Jamuna Bank, Brac Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and Shahjalal
Bank at the Barind crossing, witnesses said.
In Jhenidah,
Jamaat-Shibir men set fire to six trucks at Baidanga Bazar under sadar
upazial on Thursday night, said Jhenaidah police OC Kazi Alauddin Ahmed.
In
Rangpur, Jamaat-Shibir activists set fire to Juba Prashikkhan Centre in
sadar upazila of the district around midnight, said Rangpur
superintendent of police Abdur Razzak. (source)