One person was killed and 17 others, including a TV journalist, a lawyer, a banker, a policeman and the driver of a bus sustained severe burn injuries when the vehicle was set ablaze by unidentified miscreants near the Children’s Park in Shahbagh on Thursday evening, police said. After setting the vehicle on fire, the arsonists got down from the bus at Shahbagh intersection. The arson attack occurred at around 6.30pm. The bus was travelling to to Pallabi in Mirpur from Gulistan.
Some of the passengers managed to rush out of the bus, but Ekushey TV journalist Susmita Sen, 24, her mother Gita Sen, 45, lawyer Khodeja Nasrin, 45, assistant sub inspector (ASI) of police Nurunnabi and the bus driver, Mahbub Hossain, 45, could not escape the flames spreading inside the crowded bus.
They all suffered severe burn injuries and were rushed to the burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) by the police. Those injured suffered nearly 50 per cent burn injuries. Of them, 10 were in a critical condition, attending physicians at the DMCH burn unit said. Of the injured, Nahid,15, succumbed to injuries at 11 pm on Thursday.
Nahid, who hailed from Shibchar in Madaripur district, had suffered burn to 53 percent of his body. His elder bother Rubel told reporters that Nahid was a student of class x of Kutubpur High School.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku, accompanied IGP and the commissioner, visited the burn unit on Thursday to see the bus attack victims.
There were already 22 other burn victims in the unit, writhing in pain from arson and bomb attacks that have occurred since the main opposition BNP-led 18-Party Alliance enforced a countrywide siege programme for 71 hours from Tuesday morning.
Earlier, at 2.45 am on Thursday, the driver of a human hauler, Mojammel Huq, 45, succumbed to his severe burn injuries from an arson attack on Tuesday evening at Hatirjheel.
So far, 18 people have been killed since the opposition enforced its siege programme. Most of them died in arson and bomb attacks or in police firing during clashes.
Deputy commissioner (Ramna zone) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Maruf Hasan Sardar, told The Independent that the pattern of the arson attack suggested it was a premeditated cold-blooded one. He said the police are trying to bring the attackers to justice as soon as possible. The police have filed a case with Shahbagh police station.
-With The Independent input
