Workers try to repair the damaged tracks and salvage a derailed train after rail communications between Chittagong and the rest of the country got snapped due to sabotage by suspected pickets in Mirsarai yesterday. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das Yet again, rail becomes the target of saboteurs. A train derailed in Mirsarai of Chittagong yesterday as alleged blockaders removed fishplates and clips from tra
cks, while another train came under petrol bomb attack in Gazipur. At least 14 passengers were hurt in the two incidents. Because of the Mirsharai incident, rail links between Chittagong and other parts of the country remained suspended for around 11 hours. Since the BNP-led 20-party alliance announced a non-stop blockade on January 5, derailments took place in Comilla, Joypurhat, Moulvibazar and Brahmanbaria, leading to a near-collapse of train schedules. The railway is still struggling to fix the schedules. In Gazipur, four youths hurled two petrol bombs at Jamalpur Commuter Express when it reached near Sreepur Railway Station from Dhaka around 5:30pm, said witnesses. As one of the bombs exploded, passengers Md Hossain and Kazim Uddin suffered burns. Two others -- Afaz Uddin and Mofiz Uddin -- were hurt as they jumped from the running train. The two burn victims were being brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital last night. Advertisement Meanwhile, two more persons, including a local Jamaat leader, died in Laxmipur and Sirajganj yesterday, taking the death toll to 40 in political violence since January 5. At least 13 vehicles came under arson attacks on the 28th day of the blockade. Of them, five were torched in the capital. In Rajshahi, two truck drivers and a helper were burnt after unidentified men threw petrol bombs at two trucks in the city last night. The injured -- drivers Saidul Islam, 50, and Faruk Hossain, 45, and helper Saiful Islam, 45 -- were admitted to the burn unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. They have suffered 20 percent burns, said on-duty doctors at the RMCH. The attacks were carried out in Thakurmara area and at Barorasta intersection around 9:00pm when the trucks were entering the city from Chapainawabganj and Poba upazila. In Gaibandha, a cattle-laden truck bound for Sirajganj from Rangpur came under attack in Palashbari upazila around 9:00pm, reports our local correspondent. The suspected pickets charged three petrol bombs at the truck, leaving its driver, his helper and a cattle-trader injured, said Mojibur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Palashbari Police Station. In the capital, rickshaw-puller Abdul Malek and passenger Md Ali were injured in a crude bomb blast at Nawabpur in Old Dhaka yesterday, the second day of the BNP-led alliance's 72-hour hartal on top of the blockade. Alleged blockaders torched three buses in the evening. They set fire to a BRTC double-decker bus at Mirpur-11, a New Pallabi Paribahan bus at Mirpur-1 and a bus of Bihanga Paribahan at Gulshan-1. In Chittagong, the locomotive and two coaches of Mymensingh Express went off the tracks on its way to Chittagong around 3:30am after “miscreants" removed fishplates and clips in Barotakia area of Mirsarai, said Mozammel Haque, general manager (east zone) of the railway. This was a major act of sabotage since the government deployed more than 8,000 Ansar and VDP members at 1,041 risky points across the country on January 12 to check subversive activities. Rail communications between Chittagong and other parts resumed around 2:30pm after a relief train salvaged the derailed engine and carriages, said Firoz Iftekhar, Chittagong divisional transportation officer (east zone) of the railway. A five-member committee headed by the divisional transportation officer was formed to probe the incident. In Chittagong city, pro-blockade pickets exploded a crude bomb in front of the new court building around 3:30pm. A pick-up carrying vegetables was torched at Fateyabad of Hathazari while two auto-rickshaws were vandalised in the area. In Sholoshahar area, three crude bombs were hurled at a city bus around 8:00am. None was hurt. In Laxmipur, suspected blockaders threw a petrol bomb at a CNG-run auto-rickshaw around 10:30pm on Sunday when the vehicle carrying Md Liton and his three relatives reached South Mojupur Mohila College. All four passengers suffered burns in the attack. Locals took them to Laxmipur Sadar Hospital. Doctors there referred Liton to the DMCH. Liton died around 3:00am when he was being brought to the capital by an ambulance. In Sirajganj, local Jamaat leader Saidul Islam, who was injured during a drive by law enforcers, died at a hospital early yesterday. Police said they conducted a drive at Bakua village of Ullapara upazila where some Jamaat leaders were holding a secret meeting on Sunday night. Sensing law enforcers' presence, the Jamaat men threw several crude bombs at police, forcing them to open fire. Saidul, secretary of Jamaat's Bakua union unit, and four policemen were hurt in the incident. Police arrested Saidul and recovered three crude bombs. The injured Jamaat leader, who was admitted to Sirajganj General Hospital, died around 2:30am. Saidul was accused in 11 cases, and two arrest warrants were issued against him, said Tajul Huda, officer-in-charge of Ullapara Police Station. The local unit of Jamaat called a daylong hartal in Sirajganj for tomorrow. In Noakhali, two activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, pro-Jamaat students' body, were held with petrol and crude bombs when they tried to torch a three-wheeler at Napiter Pool.
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