AGL 39.94 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.15%)
AIRLINK 129.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.02%)
BOP 6.85 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.48%)
CNERGY 4.68 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (4.23%)
DCL 8.60 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.58%)
DFML 41.00 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.44%)
DGKC 82.85 Increased By ▲ 1.89 (2.33%)
FCCL 33.10 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (1.01%)
FFBL 73.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.93 (-1.25%)
FFL 11.92 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (1.53%)
HUBC 109.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.16%)
HUMNL 14.26 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (3.71%)
KEL 5.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.13%)
KOSM 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.3%)
MLCF 39.20 Increased By ▲ 0.60 (1.55%)
NBP 64.44 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (1.46%)
OGDC 193.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.44 (-0.74%)
PAEL 25.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.08%)
PIBTL 7.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.54%)
PPL 153.89 Decreased By ▼ -1.56 (-1%)
PRL 25.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PTC 17.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.57%)
SEARL 78.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.33%)
TELE 7.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.78%)
TOMCL 33.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-0.95%)
TPLP 8.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.12%)
TREET 16.40 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.8%)
TRG 56.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.62 (-2.78%)
UNITY 27.50 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.72%)
BR100 10,539 Increased By 94 (0.9%)
BR30 31,128 Decreased By -61.3 (-0.2%)
KSE100 98,536 Increased By 737.3 (0.75%)
KSE30 30,742 Increased By 261.8 (0.86%)

DHAKA: At least four people died in a fire on a crowded train in the Bangladeshi capital Tuesday, with police accusing opposition activists of deliberate sabotage ahead of general elections.

Dhaka railway police chief Anwar Hossain said the victims were burned to death, and photographs released by the fire service showed flames leaping from a railway coach.

“We have recovered four bodies,” Hossain told AFP.

“We suspect it is an act of sabotage. We suspect those who called a strike and transport blockade and their associates have committed this.”

Bakul Akhter, a 50-year-old passenger on the packed train which caught fire as it arrived in Dhaka shortly before dawn on Tuesday, told AFP: “We were engulfed by smoke everyone was struggling to breathe.”

Akhter was separated from her 20-year-old son, Khokon Mia, in the chaos.

“I pray he is alive,” she said.

Police said it was the second case of a suspected attack on a train in the past week.

Officers detained at least seven members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) following a train derailment that killed one person north of the capital on December 13.

BD parties launch campaigns ahead of general elections

The BNP, as well as other parties including Jamaat-e-Islami, are boycotting the January 7 elections.

They have been holding regular nationwide strikes and transport blockades to press demands for a vote under a neutral government, saying no election will be free and fair with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in power.

Hasina has rejected the demands as unconstitutional.

Police have arrested tens of thousands of opposition officials and activists over charges of violence following protests that escalated on October 28, which officers say left at least 11 people dead and some 376 vehicles torched.

A.K.M Wahiduzzaman, a spokesman of the BNP, denied his party was behind the acts of sabotage and blamed the authorities for “false flag” actions to discredit the opposition.

“These are pre-planned false flag operations aimed at blaming the opposition for the violence,” he told AFP.

Hasina has overseen a period of prolonged economic growth over 15 years in power in the world’s eighth most populous country, but there has been international alarm over democratic backsliding and thousands of extrajudicial killings.

Comments

Comments are closed.