BGB Man Among 7 Killed Districts delinked BNP-led opposition activists torch, derail trains; burn election office on the first day of 48-hour blockade

Opposition activists torch the Sirajganj Express at Ishwardi Railway Station at 3:00am yesterday, three hours before their nationwide blockade began. They also removed the sleeper clips from a rail line in Mymensingh causing a train to derail. Photo: Focus Bangla/Star

At least seven people, including a BGB man, were killed and over 250 injured as violence flared up across the country yesterday with communications crumbling on the first day of the opposition’s 48-hour blockade of roads, rail and waterways.
Two of the dead were leaders of Jubo League and Swechchhasebak League in Satkhira while the rest were a Jubo Dal man in Bogra, a pedestrian in Sirajganj, a rickshaw-puller in Comilla and an auto-rickshaw driver in Feni.
Train services were severely affected across the country yesterday as the opposition men blocked and damaged rail tracks. The BNP-Jamaat activists put up barricades at different points of Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Rangpur, Barisal-Dhaka, Satkhira-Khulna, Kishoreganj-Bhairab, Panchagarh-Dinajpur highways with logs and burning tyres.
Ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia route and to and from Chandpur terminal were suspended. Very few launches operated on Mawa-Kaorakandi route and to and from Sadarghat terminal amid a thin presence of passengers.
Trading through Burimari land port at Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat stopped with over a hundred trucks stuck up.
Though the BNP-led 18-party alliance had announced enforcing the blockade from yesterday morning to protest the declaration of the January 5 polls date, its activists started barricading roads and highways on Monday night.
The pro-blockade activists yesterday went on the rampage in several districts, vandalising and torching trains and vehicles and exploding crude bombs.
They set alight two election offices in Bogra and Feni.
In Dhaka, BNP-Jamaat men clashed with law enforcers and carried out explosion and arson, injuring at least nine, including a woman and three policemen.
At least eight vehicles were burned down in areas including Hatirpool, Ramna, Malibagh and Banasree and 16 others smashed in Uttara, on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Jatrabari and Dhaka-Aricha highway in Aminbazar.
Four journalists were injured in blasts near BNP headquarters in Nayapaltan yesterday evening. The injured are reporter Sajeda of Banglanews24.com, cameraman Khaled of Independent TV and reporter Siraj and cameraman Mohammad of SA TV.
In Satkhira, Mahmud Hasan, 32, an upazila-level leader of pro-Awami League youth organisation Jubo League, was beaten to death by BNP-Jamaat activists in Kolaroa upazila.
At the same upazila, opposition men allegedly hacked to death Rabiul Islam, 35, a union-level leader of Swechchhasebak League at Khordo Natun Bazar.
In Comilla, BGB member Ripon Ahmed, 35, son of Liakat Ali Molla, was shot to death in a clash with a mob in Dakkhin Chartha.

Opposition activists torch voter ID cards and furniture of the Bogra Election Commission office during their 48-hour blockade programme. Photo: Focus Bangla

A local ward councillor, on condition of anonymity, said a group of villagers led by BNP men attacked law enforcers who went to take away the body of Delwar, a human hauler killed in a pre-blockade blast.
The villagers were about to bury Delwar after namaz-e-janaza at 4:30pm.
Comilla (South) ASP Jahangir Alam said BGB and police feared vested quarters might bring out procession with the body in a bid to instigate violence.
As they went there to take the body into their custody, villagers attacked them with firearms and sharp weapons, leaving the BGB Jawan dead and many injured.
Also in the district’s in Laksam upazila, Babul Miah, 45, a rickshaw puller, was killed and 26 others were injured during fights between opposition activists and law enforcers.
The opposition called an eight-hour hartal today in the city protesting the killing.
In Bogra, Yusuf Ali, 26, leader of pro-BNP organisation Jubo Dal, died on the spot as Rab and BGB men fired on the marauding activists who were hurling brick chips on them.
In Sirajganj, Sakman Hossain, 36, was killed while fleeing away from a clash in sadar upazila while a bomb blast left auto-rickshaw driver Dulal Mia, 40, dead in Feni.
Police opened fire on different processions in Rajshahi, leaving at least 10 BNP men, including Mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, injured. CRIPPLING COMMUNICATIONS
The BNP-Jamaat men blocked the Bogra-Dhaka highway and rail routes in Altaf Nagar and Velurpara rail station areas in Bogra early yesterday.
Train services on Dhaka-Chittagong and Mymensingh-Netrakona and Noakhali-Chandpur routes remained suspended as miscreants damaged rail tracks and signal systems in Brahmanbaria and Mymensingh.
The operation of trains between Mymensingh and Netrakona came to a halt after five compartments of Haor Express derailed as unidentified criminals removed the fish plates of rail lines. At least 10 passengers were hurt, police said.
In a pre-dawn arson, the opposition men set fire to three compartments of a train in Pabna. Besides, they burned a compartment of Chattala Express at Imambari Railway Station in the morning.
A gang of opposition men set afire three compartments of Sirajganj Express at Ishwardi Junction Yard around 1:00am.
The miscreants blasted at least 50 crude bombs in the adjacent areas when the firefighters and police were rushing to the spot.

Policemen try to clear the rail lines in Chandpur yesterday after opposition activists placed discarded sleepers and rails on the line to obstruct trains during their 48-hour nationwide blockade programme. Photo: Focus Bangla

The agitators set fire to railway tracks near Rupdia Police Station around 9:30am, halting train movement for half an hour.
The opposition men barricaded eight points of Lalmonirhat-Dhaka and Lalmonirhat-Burimari rail routes.
Train services on Dhaka-Natore, Natore-Rajshahi routes were suspended as the BNP activists damaged railway signal system.
A compartment of Karatoa Express derailed some two kilometres off Mohimaganj Railway Station, as the opposition activists ripped out steel clips and slippers from the tracks early yesterday, snapping rail communication between Santaher-Gaibandha for six hours