2 injured as explosion hits Ganajagaran Mancha in Chittagong

A procession celebrating the death verdict awarded to Al-Badr commander Mir Quasem Ali in Chittagong has been hit by an explosion.

Supporters of Ganajagaran Mancha, a mass platform for maximum penalty to war criminals from 1971, were headed to the Shaheed Minar when the hand bomb was thrown in their midst around 1pm, said Kotwali Police OC AKM Mohiuddin Selim on Sunday.

bdnews24.com photographer Sumon Babu, who witnessed the incident, said he was out to take photos of the march on a motorcycle with photographer Aminul Islam Munna.

A rickshaw-puller and Munna, photographer for local newspaper 'Dainik Azadi', were injured after the blast hit the procession, he said.

Mir Quasem Ali, an executive council member of Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death by hanging for his role in the murders, abductions, confinement and torture of those in favour of Bangladesh's Liberation in 1971.

He was found guilty of heading the notorious Al-Badr in Chittagong, as head of Jamaat's Islami Chhatra Sangha unit in the port city.

The blast wounded rickshaw driver Md Rafik’s at his waist, OC Selim told bdnews24.com. “The 45-year old was admitted to Chittagong Sadar Hospital.”

A shrapnel from the hand bomb hit Photographer Munna, leaving him with a minor wound.

After the verdict, Mancha supporters held a short rally in front of ‘Mohamaya Bhaban’, better known as Dalim Hotel, where Al-Badr headed by Mir Quasem set up one of its torture cells in 1971, its coordinator Sharif Chouhan told bdnews24.com.

“Our procession was headed to the Shaheed Minar. The bomb exploded in front of Islamia Market at Cinema Palace Intersection while we were at KC Dey Road.”

Those against judgment of war criminals from Bangladesh’s Liberation War were behind this attack, he said.

“I had just arrived at Cinema Palace with a passenger, and was taking another one when the bomb exploded,” Md Rafik, who laid injured at the hospital, told bdnews24.com.

The procession by Ganajagaran Mancha, however, passed the site to reach the port city’s Shaheed Minar.

Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League’s student front, also took out a march celebrating Mir Quasem’s verdict and passed the site before Ganajagaran Mancha.

A rally by Awami League’s labour front Sramik League was being held at Shaheed Minar when the bomb exploded.