BNP-Jamaat miscreants allegedly killed at least four passengers, including a woman and her three-year-old son by setting three coaches of Mohanganj Express on fire near Tejgaon Railway Station area in the capital Dhaka early Tuesday.
Police identified three of the victims of the gruesome act carried out by the BNP-Jamaat leadership trying to pursue their anti-state political agendas. They were identified as Nadira Akter Poppy (35), her son MdYasin (3) and businessmen Md Rashid Dali,(65). The identity of another victim could not be immediately known.
Media cell official of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters Shahjahan Sikder said that the terror attack took place at around 5:04 am.
He said that they recovered four charred bodies from the train and sent them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
He said, adding that another person with severe burn injuries was rushed to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Three firefighting units went to the scene of the fire incident and doused the fire around 6:45 am.
According to Lima Khanom, duty officer at Fire Service and Civil Defence, the train was coming to Dhaka from Netrokona.
The train had a stoppage at Tejgaon station and as soon as the train started moving, the fire originated from the rear part of the coach.
Talking to journalists, Nadira's brother Habibur Rahman Habib said they were from Baruna village of Netrokona Sadar upazila. Nadira's family, however, lives in Dhaka as her husband Mizanur runs a hardware business in Karwan Bazar, Habib added.
Nadira and her two sons went to their village home on December 3 and they were returning to Dhaka by Mohanganj Express, Habib said. He was accompanying Nadira and her two sons Yasin,3, and Fahim, 8, during the journey.
Habibur said he managed to get off the train with Fahim, but Yasin and his mother Nadira were trapped inside. Later, the fire service brought out their bodies, he added.
While visiting the DMCH, this correspond found three bags of bodies lying on trolleys outside the emergency department of the hospital. The bags contained the bodies of four victims of the arson attack on the train. The remains of a mother and child, still holding each other in death, are inside one of the bags. Yasin’s body was found clinging to his mother.
* DMP chief terms it as sabotage
by BNP-Jamaat
* Ministers vowed for punishment
* BNP, and CPB also condemn
The child may have been clinging to his mother out of fear and the mother might have been holding on to him to try and save him, said Commissioner Habibur Rahman of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
The passengers noticed the fire when the train was arriving at the Khilkhet station, said Mohammad Mohsin, Officer-in-Charge of Tejgaon Police Station. Their screams brought the train to a halt at Tejgaon station. The fire service attempted to extinguish the blaze.
Anowar Hossain, superintendent of the Dhaka region's rail police, says they initially believe the fire was an act of 'political sabotage'.
The train staff first noticed the fire at the connection point between two carriages. They tried to put it out with fire extinguishers but could not control it. The fire then spread to the neighbouring compartments.
The fire caused panic as passengers attempted to flee. The early hour and the sleepy environment meant that many passengers had no idea what was going on.
Several people were also injured while trying to flee the train. One of them, 53-year-old NurulHaque, received a blow to the head and has been admitted to the DMCH. He hailed from Netrokona’sKendua and works as an administrative officer in the transport branch of the Ha-meem Group of Industries.
After visiting the DMCH, DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman claimed that those who are enforcing hartals and blockades are behind the arson attack on the train in Tejgaon.
He said, “You all know that a political party is destroying lives and property in the name of hartals and blockades, and primarily police believe the arson attack on the train in Tejgaon today is also a part of this.”
“I want to say that those who called hartals and blockades are behind the arson attack on the train. Those who have committed such crimes before have been arrested, and they have given such statements,” he said.
The DMP commissioner said, “Police believe that those behind these incidents are part of the hartals and blockades, and certainly the central leadership’s decision is involved. Followers of the party are carrying out attacks through their men.”
After talking to a person who was injured in the arson attack on the train, and is undergoing treatment at a hospital, it came to light that the perpetrators carried out the attack in the guise of passengers.
“According to the victim, a seat was first set on fire which soon spread and the passengers started to run. Some were jumping out of the train through its windows, some through its doors. As the attack was carried out at dawn, many were asleep,” said Habibur.
Replying to a question on whether the attackers were following the orders of any leader abroad as many leaders are in jail, the DMP chief said, “Those who are calling hartals, carrying out arson attacks and sabotage, they are doing these following the orders of their leaders living abroad. It is clear as daylight.”
Responding to another query, Habibur said necessary steps will be taken to ensure the deployment of law enforcers in each train compartment to avert such incidents.
Awami League general secretary and road transport and bridges minister ObaidulQuader said that those who are responsible for killing four people including the child by setting fire to a moving train won't be spared.
"The arson attack on a moving train in Bangladesh was like those attacks are being carried out on Palestinians by Israeli forces. The arsonists won't be spared," he said
BNP Senior Secretary General RuhulKabir Rizvi also expressed sorrow over the death of the four people in the arson attack, calling the attackers a disgrace to humanity and demanding a judicial inquiry into it.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) condemned the arson attacks on buses and trains.
In a statement, CPB leaders demanded exemplary punishment of those who were responsible for the arson attack on the train.