8 hurt in blast in procession

At least eight people were hurt in a crude bomb blast when a procession, led by Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, was marching towards BNP chief Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office yesterday to lay siege to it.

The bomb went off at the tail of the procession around 12:20pm. Protesters suspected that it was hurled from a four-storey market at Gulshan-2 intersection in the capital. The minister was unhurt.

Incensed, Shajahan's men stormed the Metropolitan Shopping Plaza and vandalised several shops, said witnesses.

Identities of all the injured could not be confirmed. Sources at the United Hospital in Gulshan said eight wounded were taken there. Of them, Al Amin and Ana Sarkar were injured badly.

Another victim was Delwar Hossain, an activist of Bangladesh Awami Muktijoddha Prajanma League.

Three injured received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said DMCH sources.

Shajahan led over 1,000 people towards Khaleda's office protesting the ongoing blockade and hartals.

But as police put up barricades at the two entries to Road-86, protesters held a rally in the area, around thirty yards off the BNP chief's office.

Speaking at the rally, organised by Sramik-Karmachari-Peshajibi-Muktijoddha Shamannay Parishad, the minister blamed Khaleda for instigating the attack on the procession.

After the blast, a joint team of Rapid Action Battalion and police conducted a search in the market for about three hours.

“Police locked all the four entries to the market around 15 minutes after the blast,” said Shahriar Emon, an employee at National Computers.

The building houses around 40 shops on the ground floor; a bank, a food court, several money exchange and courier service offices on the first floor; an abandoned garment factory on the second floor, and an English medium school on the top floor.

Normal banking was disrupted at the bank branch while the school was shut. Gulshan police said they detained at least seven people at the market for quizzing.

The shipping minister at a press briefing in the afternoon claimed 18 people were injured in the blast.