Most of the injured leave hospitals

Sazzad Hossain

Most of the 87 people, injured in the Hossaini Dalan blasts early Saturday, have left hospitals after treatment.

As of last night, only 16 of the injured were at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

"One of them has been kept in the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] and is in a critical condition. The rest are now out of danger," Khaza Abdul Gafur, assistant director (administration) of the DMCH, told The Daily Star last night.

And the injured, admitted to Mitford Hospital, had also returned home, said hospital sources.

Meanwhile, the body of Sazzad Hossain, the 14-year-old who died in the blasts, has been handed over to his family.

Sazzad's father Monir Hossain said they received the body from the DMCH authorities around 10:30am on Saturday after an autopsy. He was buried at the capital's Azimpur graveyard in the afternoon.

The blasts took place around 1:30am on Saturday when Shia Muslims were gathering at Hossaini Dalan about half an hour before the traditional Tazia procession was to be brought out from there to mark the holy Ashura.

The day marks the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), and the Shia community around the world has been observing the day for centuries. In Bangladesh, many Sunni Muslims too participate in the Ashura programmes.

Feroz Hossain, superintendent of Hossaini Dalan, told The Daily Star that to his knowledge, about a hundred people were injured in the blasts and all but three to four of them are Sunnis.

The Daily Star talked to 12 of the 16, still at the DMCH, and learned that all are Sunnis. They were deeply troubled by the "unprecedented" attack.

Sazzad Hossain too was a Sunni.

In a sign of sectarian harmony, Sazzad's family has been taking part in the Tazia procession for generations.

"We belong to a Sunni family. But we never felt that the holy Ashura was not our occasion," said Rashed, Sazzad's elder brother.

"Our grandmother used to take me and Sazzad to the procession when we were much younger."

Rashed's daughter Sajia Sultana, 11; wife Sumi, 28; aunt Ayesha, 55; and nephew Rajon, 20, were among the injured in the blasts.

"Seven of us were holding each others' hands and walking slowly to where the procession was supposed to start from. But most of us fell on the ground when the first explosion took place," Rashed, who luckily remained unscathed, recalled yesterday while talking this correspondent at the DMCH. The injured members of his family were under treatment there.

He then saw Sazzad lying motionless on the ground and took him inside Hossaini Dalan where many of the injured had already been brought.

"It took me a while to notice that my brother was profusely bleeding and needed immediate medical care," Rashed said, adding that Sazzad was declared dead when taken to the hospital.

"Those who want to create a rift among people should be brought to justice," he demanded.