Two days before polls: Crude bomb, arson attacks in voting centres, camps in 4 districts
Five were injured in a clash between BNP activists and police in Cumilla
With less than two days left before the 12th National Election, incidents of crude bomb and arson attacks have been reported in polling centres and election camps in Feni, Rajshahi, Natore and Chapainawabganj.
Meanwhile, BNP activists and police clashed in Cumilla as the party tried to bring out a precision calling for boycotting the 7 January election, leaving 5 people injured as the law enforcement forces blank-fired to contain the situation.
The incident occurred in front of Government Women's College in Cumilla today (5 January).
In Feni, a polling centre in Sonagazi upazila's Charshaha Bhikari High School was set on fire by a group of unidentified people today morning.
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Some furniture was damaged in the fire, which gutted the school's teachers' auditorium,
Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (Sonagazi-Daganbhuiyan Circle) Tasnim Hossain said police were investigating the incident to determine whether it was aimed at disrupting the polling activities.
Meanwhile, there were two arson attacks in two of the Rajshahi polling stations in Bagmara and Mohanpur yesterday (4 January) night.
Rajshahi District Superintendent of Police Saifur Rahman said a crude bomb attack took place in the office room of Akkelpur High School of Ganipur Union of Bagmara, which is designated as a polling station.
The windows were broken, and some of the furniture and books in the room were burnt. Police recovered two crude bomb-like objects from the spot.
Two other fire incidents were reported on the same day in Bagha upazila, but those could not be ascertained as arson attacks.
On the same night, a group of people set fire to an election camp of the Awami League-nominated candidate in the Chapainawabganj-1 constituency.
Meanwhile, an election camp of Asif Abdullah Shovon, an independent candidate from the Natore-4 constituency, was set on fire in Natore's Baraigram upazila.
Unidentified people set fire to the camp in the Haroa area of Banpara municipality of the upazila.
The camp's furniture was damaged in the fire.
Inspector Sirajul Islam, in charge of Banpara Police Investigation Centre, said police visited the spot and collected evidence.
