Two more people, including a child, have been killed in fresh violence in Bangladesh pushing the death toll to 34, as anti-Government protesters targeted several vehicles with petrol bombs in one of the worst attacks since the political unrest began earlier this month. At least 40 people were injured, some critically, after protesters threw petrol bombs on a number of vehicles last night in Dhaka and surrounding districts, police said.
Friday night’s attack is considered to be one of the worst arson attacks since the political unrest gripped Bangladesh earlier this month while doctors described the wounds of nine of them “critical”. “The respiratory system of nine of the bus passengers were badly damaged in the arson attacks. Their condition is more critical than the others,” a doctor at the burn unit of the State-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) told the TV channels. Witnesses said two youth simultaneously hurled two petrol bombs on the bus at Dhaka’s Jatrabari area as it was heading towards suburban Narayanganj on Friday night and quickly fled the scene. “The fire spread instantly and everyone was frantically trying to get out of the bus,” a witness said.
Another 11 people were wounded in nearly identical petrol bomb attacks on a bus and a truck in northwestern Rajshahi and Bogra late on Friday. At least 34 people were killed, nearly half of them in arson attacks on buses and trucks since January 6, while the last two of the victims, a child and a truck driver succumbed to their burn wounds on Friday.