Tension rises amid more arson, crude bomb attacks

Tensions ran high in the capital yesterday as security forces tightened security measures ahead of the Awami League's planned "Dhaka Lockdown" programme.

The heightened alert came as the International Crimes Tribunal-1 is set to fix the date today for delivering its verdict in a case against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity.

The city has witnessed a spate of arson and crude bomb attacks in recent days, spreading panic among residents amid the latest political flare-up since the fall of the AL government on August 5 last year.

Law enforcers said they have blanketed Dhaka with tight security. More check-posts sprang up across the city yesterday, with police and other forces searching vehicles and pedestrians. Police personnel have been deployed in front of nearly all major establishments in the city.

Apart from the police and army, members of the Border Guard Bangladesh have been deployed in Dhaka, Gazipur, and Narayanganj.

Political parties and student platforms yesterday vowed to foil any attempt by the AL and its affiliated bodies to destabilise the situation. They announced rallies in Dhaka and major divisional cities, pledging to resist any move toward the reemergence of the AL, which remains banned from political activities.

Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, is expected to announce the verdict date against Hasina today. Her co-accused are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

Her trial in absentia, which began on June 1, heard months of testimony alleging she ordered mass killings. Prosecutors have filed five charges, including failure to prevent murder, amounting to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law. They have sought the death penalty if she is found guilty.

Hasina has denied all the charges and called her trial a "jurisprudential joke".

During the trial, the former IGP admitted his guilt and became a state witness, the first such instance since the tribunal's formation in 2010.

Asked during a media briefing on Tuesday if the recent attacks would affect the trial process, prosecutor Mizanul Islam said, "I do not think so. But I can say that what they are doing is to create obstacles."

ARSON, CRUDE BOMB EXPLOSIONS

Despite the heightened security, several arson and crude bomb attacks were reported in Dhaka, Gazipur, and Brahmanbaria yesterday.

In Brahmanbaria, unidentified miscreants set fire to a single-storey Grameen Bank branch in Bijoynagar upazila around 2:00am. The fire burned furniture and important documents, Md Kalim Uddin, the branch manager, told The Daily Star.

Meanwhile, arson targeting vehicles continued in and around the capital. An Alif Paribahan bus was set on fire in Ashulia's Sarkar Market area around 4:30am, said Ashulia Police Station OC Abdul Hannan.

Shortly after, at 4:50am, a Banasree Paribahan bus was torched in the Beraider Chala area of Gazipur's Sreepur, according to fire service. This was followed by an attack at 5:10am on a VIP Paribahan bus in the Bhogra Bypass area of Gazipur. Later, a microbus was set on fire on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Uttara around 7:10am, said fire service duty officer Rozina Akter.

The attacks continued into the afternoon. A bus of Shatabdi Paribahan was set on fire in front of Mirpur New Market around 1:45pm, confirmed Shah Ali Police Station OC Mohammad Golam Azam. Around 6:40pm, a local bus was torched in Dholaipar.

Around 9:30pm, miscreants set fire to a train coach in Dhaka's Tejgaon. Locals caught two individuals -- Morshed, 40, and Zakir, 25, -- and handed them over to police, said acting OC Zainal Abedin of Dhaka Railway Police.

The fire was brought under control before the fire service arrived at the scene, he said, adding that the train was stationary at Tejgaon Railway Station when the incident occurred.

Around the same time, a crude bomb exploded at Harun Mollah Ground in Pallabi while a documentary on the "fascist regime" was being screened. No one was injured in the attack.

Another crude bomb blast was reported in front of Fortune Shopping Mall in the Mouchak area, police said.

Meanwhile, two incidents of crude bomb explosion near the TSC area of Dhaka University injured at least three people. The incidents caused panic in the area and disrupted a documentary screening.

DU Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed said two female residents of Ruqayyah Hall were slightly injured in one of the blasts. An official of the Madrasa Education Department, Jahangir Alam Chakladar, also sustained injuries.

In a separate incident in the same area, a cocktail explosion damaged a motorcycle.

A tea stall owner near the scene said explosives were hurled from across the road near Suhrawardy Udyan. Eyewitnesses reported that two cocktails were thrown from inside the park.

ARRESTS, BOMB RECOVERIES

Meanwhile, several arrests were made yesterday.

The DMP, in a press release yesterday morning, said that its Detective Branch had arrested 44 members of AL from different areas of the capital in the preceding 24 hours.

In Narayanganj, police arrested at least 29 leaders and activists of AL and its affiliated bodies during special drives from midnight Tuesday to yesterday evening, said Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Tarek Al Mehedi.

Separately, police arrested three people with "a large quantity" of crude bombs, petrol bombs, and bomb-making materials from a house in Bhanga upazila, said Bhanga Police Station OC Mohammad Ashraf Hossain.

Meanwhile, Rab recovered six petrol bombs and four crude bombs from the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Mohammadpur in the evening. According to a Rab-2 press release, no arrests had been made in connection with the recovery.