Bombs go off at health minister’s programme

Several improvised bombs have exploded at a programme of the health minister in Dhaka amid the BNP-sponsored indefinite transport blockade.

Mohammed Nasim was onstage with former foreign minister Dipu Moni and local MP Haji Mohammad Salim during the blasts on Tuesday afternoon.

Initial reports suggest no-one has been injured in the incident at the Sir Salimullah Medical College premises.

The programme was a reunion of volunteer organisation ‘Sandhani’.

Some of the participants ran in panic after the blasts during the inauguration ceremony.

Two more explosions were reported inside the medical college.

Medical college staff suspect the bombs were hurled from the roof of a nearby building.

Police said the programme continued despite the blasts.

“We are searching the area,” Lalbagh police Deputy Commissioner Mofizuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

Minister Nasim is the second Cabinet member to be targeted during the BNP’s agitation.

Law Minister Anisul Huq’s residence was bombed on Friday, a day after the homes of two High Court judges, who embargoed BNP leader Tarique Rahman’s media coverage, were attacked.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia called the blockade on Jan 5 after police prevented her from leaving her Gulshan office to lead agitations.

Since then, over a hundred vehicles have been torched and vandalised and a number of people killed.

On Sunday, a bomb and a loaded gun were found at the High Court. A day later, several bombs were exploded near Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Dhaka rally. Police arrested three youths with guns.