Subarna Express torched

Miscreants set fire to five carriages of the Chittagong-Dhaka inter-city Subarna Express at Chittagong Railway Station early on Tuesday.

"The train was supposed to leave for Dhaka at 7am. Miscreants torched five carriages of the train at 4:50am," Railways East zone General Manager Tofazzal Hossan told bdnews24.com.

Agrabad Fire Station Deputy Assistant Director Jasim Uddin said two fire-fighting units brought the flames under control within an hour.

Fire-fighters suspect the miscreants poured petrol to ignite the blaze.

A plastic bottle used to carry petrol was also found at the scene, Jasim Uddin said.

Tofazzal Hossan described Tuesday's incident as "an act of sabotage”.

Police have also detained two suspects from the station for possible involvement with the incident.

But Subarna Express' was not cancelled. Hossain said the train departed Chittagong one-and-half-hour after the incident by replaced charred bogies with two new carriages.

Two of the five damaged bogies were air-conditioned. The Railway East zone GM said the total loss from the incident was nearly Tk 20 million.

Railways have become a favourite target for trouble-makers. Many trains and tracks in many places have been set ablaze during opposition strikes in recent months.

The sabotage acts on the railways across the country started after Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee was awarded death sentence in February. Following the verdict, trains docked at stations were set ablaze in Chittagong, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Mymensingh. Several major accidents also took place as fishplates and slippers were removed from the railway tracks.

Police had held Jamaat, which opposes the 1971 war crimes trials, and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir responsible for those acts of sabotage. Security measures were also beefed up in the railways in wake of the incidents.

Committee to probe Subarna fire