At least four people, including two local Awami League leaders, were injured in an explosion Gulistan area in the capital yesterday afternoon. The four victims were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where condition of one identified as Nasiruddin, 44 is stated to be serious, doctors said, adding the others - Nazrul Islam, Kartik Das and Abdur Rashid -- were released after first aid.

Nasiruddin, 44, is joint secretary of AL Kachua Thana unit, who along with Nazrul Islam, 43, president of Bagerhat District Bus Owners Association and a member of the Bagerhat district AL were in spot when the blast took place on the road near Pir Yemani market and the al central office. Kartik Das and Abdur Rashid were passing through the road when hurt by the blast. The locals and police said that the explosion took place at about 2:00pm when the AL leaders got down from a rickshaw in between the Muktijoddha Krira Sangsad and Pir Yameni Market. The two AL leaders and the pedestrians who were waiting there for bus sustained injuries in the explosion. Following the incident, police encircled the spot. The Rapid Action Battalion also visited the spot but it was not clear where from the bomb came and how it exploded.

Bomb disposal unit also reached the spot and they collected some glass chips from the body of the injured as there was no splinter found on the road. Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station, said that there was no splinter found on the spot. It seemed that it was exploded on the body of one of the injured, he said. 'We initially suspect that device was not a powerful one and it may be a cocktail,' said Atiqul Islam, deputy commissioner of Ramna zone. But we did not rule out the possibility involvement of any criminal or other groups behind this, one official said, but indicated that it could be "to create panic among the people." RAB DG Hasan Mahmud Khondokar said they launched an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, our Correspondent in Barisal reported that a group of AL front organization activists ransacked and set fire to Barisal BNP office complex in Barisal city allegedly to protest the injuries sustained by two AL leaders in the bomb incident in Dhaka earlier in the day. Witnesses said a group of agitated local Jubo League and Chhatra League cadres stormed the BNP office at the Aswani Kumar Hall premises at about 5:30 pm in apparent retaliation of the Dhaka incident.

BNP sources claimed the attackers were led by local BCL and JL leaders Zakir Hossain alias Taak Shahin, Shahin, Ziaur Rahman, and Mintu. They said the JL and BCL cadres forced their entry to BNP office and ransacked flag stands, furniture in different rooms of the three storied party office complex and set fire some office furniture before leaving the place after about 20 minutes. Local people extinguished the fire before fire service reached there. BNP and its front organizations later staged a protest procession against the unprovoked attack on their offices by AL cadres and demanded punishment of the culprits. Local BNP lawmaker and former BCC mayor Majibor Rahman Sarwar condemned the attack on BNP office complex and also called for action against the perpetrators. Police cordoned the BNP office complex after the attack but none was injured and no one was arrested.

-The Independent

Zia’s murals defaced at Bangbandhu Stadium

The New Nation: At least four persons were injured in an explosion yesterday in front of a market in the city's Gulistan area, which is about 200 metres from Awami League's central office. Police could not immediately confirm the cause of the explosion, but said it may have been a "cocktail" blast. Officer in charge of Shahbagh police station Rezaul Islam told newsmen "We don't believe it was a bomb."

The blast occurred at around 2 pm in front of Muktijoddha Market, another official source said. "We cannot say right now the cause of the explosion," he said adding "We are investigating." Three of the injured were identified as Nasir Uddin, 45, a former Union Parishad chairman of Kachua in Bagerhat; Sheikh Nazrul Islam, 50, president of Bagerhat Bus Owners Association and Kartik Lal Das, 48, a passerby. They were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The condition of Nasir Uddin was stated to be critical. Witnesses at the hospital however, said there was another injured at the DMCH. The fourth injured man was identified as Abdur Rashid, 58. He was also taken to DMCH later.

Sheikh Nazrul Islam, meanwhile, was released after primary treatment, Shahbagh police chief Rezaul Islam said. He also said there was "no evidence" of any bomb. Advocate Mir Shawkat Ali Badsah, a Bagerhat MP who had been to the place of occurrence told some newsmen that he had seen three people, including two from his constituency, lying there bleeding. He said he had taken them to the DMCH immediate after the blast. Nazrul Islam and Nasir Uddin were local Awami League leaders in his area, the MP said.

4 wounded in blast on Bangabandhu Avenue

The New Age: At least four, including a leader and an activists of the ruling Awami League’s Bagerhat unit, were injured in an bomb blast in front of the Muktijoddha Club, close to the Awami League’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue, in Dhaka on Thursday. The lawmen could not immediately establish the target of the attack and said they could find no evidence or explosive substance at the place. The injured, admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, are Bagerhat Awami League activist Sheikh Nazrul Islam Mithu, 50, also president of the Bagerhat Bus Owners’ Association, Kachua upazila unit Awami League joint secretary Nasir Uddin, 45, and pedestrians Kartik Lal Das, 48, and Abdur Rashid, 60, also a retired accountant of the housing and public works ministry.

The police and witnesses said the blast took place in front of the Muktijoddha Club near the Awami League office on Bangabandhu Avenue about 2:00pm just after two Awami League leaders had got down from a rickshaw. The pedestrians who were injured were waiting to catch a bus. ‘I heard a bang and saw a streak of light. The next moment I fell on the ground bleeding in parts of my body,’ Kartik Lal Das, who was injured, told New Age at the emergency ward of the hospital. Dhaka Medical College Hospital physician Mostafa Kamal told newsmen, ‘The splinters found in the injuries of the four match the ones found in the injuries of the people wounded in the attack on AL lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh on October 21.’ Awami League lawmaker for the Bagerhat 2 constituency Mir Showkat Ali, who took the injured to the hospital, told newsmen, ‘I reached the spot just after the explosion and found two of my party colleagues fallen on the ground bleeding.’

The Shahbagh police officer-in-charge, Rezaul Karim, however, told newsmen at the hospital, ‘We are yet to establish the nature of explosion as we have found no splinters in the injuries of the four admitted to the hospital.’ The Ramna zone deputy police commissioner, Atiqul Islam, said, ‘We cannot say anything about the cause of the explosion before investigation.’ The police, Rapid Action Battalion and high officials of other law-enforcement agencies visited the spot. Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh came under a bomb attack when he was leaving his office at Motijheel by car at night on October 21. Twelve people were injured in the attack.

4 injured in bomb blast at Gulistan

The Daily Star: At least four people, including two Awami League leaders, were injured yesterday afternoon in a bomb explosion at Gulistan in front of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra office. Neither the law enforcers nor the victims could ascertain the motive behind the attack. The law enforcers failed to collect any evidence from the spot near the Awami League central office. The injured were identified as Sheikh Nazrul Islam, 43, Bagerhat district AL leader, his friend Nasir Uddin, 44, Kachua upazila unit AL joint secretary, Abdur Rashid, 58, a former accountant of PWD, and shoe factory employee Kartik Das, 40.

All the injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). DMCH sources said tiny pieces of broken glasses were found in the flesh of the wounded people. Injured AL leader Nazrul Islam said, "We heard a big bang and then I found blood spurting from my body." Other injured Rashid and Kartik said they were hit by shrapnel as they were waiting for buses at around 2:30pm. Contacted, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad told The Daily Star, "The motive behind the explosion and the persons behind the attack could not be known immediately." Major MM Shafiqur Rahman of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab-3) said, "We are yet to make sure if the bomb was exploded on any of the injured people." "So far we have not been able to collect any evidence from the spot and none has been arrested in this connection, he said.