A student succumbed to his injuries sustained in a grenade blast at a madrasa here, the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) said on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Mohammed Habib (25), a final year masters-level student of the Islamic law department at Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa in Lalkhan Bazar. He died at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) around 1am on Tuesday.
Of the other four students undergoing treatment, the condition of Mohammed Nurun Nobi was stated to be critical. Nobi was battling for life with 90 per cent burn injuries, said Dr Ashraful Islam of the CMCH burns unit.
Police said they have arrested nine persons in connection with Monday morning’s blast.
“We have filed separate cases against the madrasa’s principal, Mufti Izhar, his son and aides at Khulshi police station for their involvement in manufacturing explosives and grenades. We will arrest all the persons involved in such nefarious activities on the madrasa premises,” said CMP additional commissioner Md Shahidullah. “Police also recovered eight bottles of acid from the principal’s room during raids,” he added.
The CMP official said police were also probing Mufti Izhar’s suspected connection with terrorists. “The principal has earlier been arrested several times on suspicion of having links with an international militant organization. We have asked our Detective Branch to carry out a probe into the matter,” he added.
On Monday morning, the CMP had unearthed huge stocks of sophisticated grenades at Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa, established by Hefazat-e-Islam’s nayeb-e-amir Mufti Izharul Islam, in the port city.
On receiving the news of an explosion, the law enforcement personnel rushed to the spot and found a large dump of hand grenades in the dormitory of the madrasa.
So far, three unused grenades have been recovered from the spot. Shahidullah said, “We’ve already recovered three live grenades and more than 100 used and defused grenades, along with materials used for making lethal explosives. We’re searching the rooms of the madrasa’s hostel. We’ll conduct raids on other madrasas of the port city.”
A grenade exploded in the madrasa dormitory at 11am on Monday. Locals rushed to the spot and tried to help the students, but the madrasa authorities barred them. When the police came to the spot and entered the dormitory, they discovered that many students in the dormitory had been injured in the grenade blast. Five of the students had been critically injured in the explosion on the first floor of the three-storey dormitory building.
In the evening, the police conducted a raid in the room and found a number of handmade grenades under the rubble. They cordoned off the area and brought in bomb and explosive experts.
CMP commissioner Shafiqul Islam, along with senior officials, visited the spot around 5pm. He told reporters said that the police found several powerful hand grenades under the rubble. “Some of the grenades have been defused, while some are still active and in a dangerous condition,” he added.
“Manufacture of hand grenades on the campus of an educational institute is an alarming matter,” he observed.
Mufti Izhar has denied the allegation that a grenade had exploded. He told journalists that the blast of a laptop charger at the hostel room had triggered the explosion.
-With The Independent input
