Jamaat leader in Chapainawabganj arrested with bombs

Police have arrested a local Jamaat-e-Islami leader with bombs amid frequent firebombings at Chapainawabganj in the last two days.

Saidur Rahman was arrested on Thursday from the town’s Dwariyapur Truck Terminal around 11am, said Chapainawabganj police OC Golam Murtaza.

Rahman, president of district’s transport workers’ union, is a member of Jamaat’s district committee, he said.

He was found in possession of ten crude bombs and five petrol bombs, said the police officer adding he is named in several cases of attack on police and damaging vehicles.

Pro-blockade elements lobbed a petrol bomb at truck early on Tuesday leaving the driver dead and his assistant burnt. The same day another truck was set to fire at the town’s Shanti Morh area.

On Wednesday, a truck was torched in Gomastapur Upazila and three were burnt in arson at truck at Kansat Upazila at wee hours of Thursday.

Over 60 people have died across Bangladesh in incidents of arson and firebombings on vehicles since Jan 5, when the BNP-led coalition’s indefinite transport block started.

The Jamaat-e-Islami is a key ally of the BNP.