Unidentified arsonists set hearth to at the least 5 major faculties, together with 4 polling cubicles, in Bangladesh, police mentioned on Saturday, the eve of a common election that the principle opposition occasion is boycotting.
Police are investigating the fires in Gazipur, on the outskirts of capital Dhaka, however suspected that wrongdoers aiming to disrupt Sunday’s election had set hearth to the colleges in the course of the night time.
“We’ve got intensified patrolling and stay on excessive alert to thwart any untoward incident,” mentioned Gazipur police chief Kazi Shafiqul Alam.
The primary opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP), boycotting for the second time in three elections, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is making an attempt to legitimise a sham vote that can ship her occasion a fourth straight time period.
Hasina, refusing BNP calls for to resign and cede energy to a impartial authority to run the election, accuses the opposition occasion of instigating anti-government protests which have rocked Dhaka since late October and killed at the least 10 individuals within the South Asian nation.
The BNP has requested residents to shun the ballot and referred to as a two-day strike within the nation from Saturday.
Roads in Dhaka, clogged with site visitors on regular days, had been largely abandoned on Saturday, with safety forces patrolling the town in armoured autos.
Arsonists attacked polling cubicles within the northeastern districts of Moulavibazar and Habiganj, police mentioned, including that comparable incidents had been reported throughout the nation over the previous two days.
Within the coastal district of Khulna, police arrested two individuals on Thursday night time after native residents caught them allegedly making an attempt to set hearth to a faculty.
One other try to set hearth to a major college constructing in the identical space was averted by locals on Friday, mentioned Saidur Rahman, Khulna’s police chief.
“We’re on alert and are looking out for the arsonists,” Rahman mentioned.
About 800,000 police, paramilitary and police auxiliaries are to protect polling cubicles on Sunday. Officers of the military, navy and air power have additionally been deployed throughout the nation to keep up peace.
In a separate incident on Friday night time at the least 4 individuals, together with a toddler, died in a suspected arson assault on a passenger practice, police mentioned.
Along with the deaths, eight had been injured when hearth unfold to 4 compartments of the Dhaka-bound Benapole Specific round 9 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday.
Final month protesters set a practice ablaze, killing 4 individuals throughout a national strike referred to as by the opposition.
Senior BNP official Ruhul Kabir Rizvi mentioned Friday’s incident on the Benapole Specific was “undoubtedly an act of sabotage and cruelty in opposition to humanity”, blaming the ruling occasion for it.
The Awami League occasion accused the BNP of making an attempt to disrupt the election by making a “reign of terror on harmless individuals”.
The practice hearth in Dhaka’s Wari space was introduced beneath management by seven firefighting models after about an hour, hearth service official Shahjahan Sikder mentioned.
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