Post-election violence
Dhaka, Feb 14: A bomb explosion and a clash claimed three lives in Bangladesh on Friday and Saturday following the country’s national parliament election on Thursday, said the police.
At least two people were killed and three others injured in an explosion that occurred early Saturday morning in Bangladesh’s Chapainawabganj district, some 302 km northwest of the capital Dhaka.
Md Nure Alam, a local police official, told journalists that the blast happened around 5 am local time while crude bombs, locally known as “cocktails,” were being made at a village house, Xinhua news agency reported. The blast caused the brick walls of the house to collapse and blew off its tin roof, he said, adding that authorities were identifying the deceased and injured.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is set to form the next government in Bangladesh following a decisive victory in the 13th Parliamentary election.
Local media reported that at least one person was killed and 36 others injured in post-election violence across Bangladesh between Thursday night and Friday evening, amid allegations of clashes within parties, attacks by rival groups, and vandalism.
During the clash between rival factions affiliated with the BNP in Sadar Upazila of Munshiganj district, a young man was beaten to death, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
The deceased, 30-year-old Md Jasim Nayeb, a supporter of an independent candidate and expelled BNP district member secretary Md Mohiuddin, was critically injured in the violence on Friday afternoon and succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital later in the evening.
According to police, previous disputes between rival groups in the area flared into a violent confrontation over election-related issues, during which Jasim was hit on the head with a sharp weapon, leaving him gravely injured.
With BNP’s chairperson Tarique Rahman now set to lead Bangladesh — experts warn that the nation faces a massive challenge of overcoming the unrest and rising Islamist extremism that marked the 18-month tenure of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. (IANS)
