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| Monday, 23 August 2004 |
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Bangladesh opposition rally blast toll rises to 18, Hasina suffers minor leg injuries DHAKA, Sunday (AFP) The death toll in a series of blasts at an opposition rally in the Bangladeshi capital rose to 18 Sunday, a senior Awami League party official told AFP. Saber Hussain Chowdhury, political secretary to Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, said many people were still being treated for injuries from Saturday's blasts. The explosions, believed to have been caused by hand grenades thrown into the crowd, occurred immediately after Sheikh Hasina had finished speaking at an anti-government rally outside the party's headquarters. She suffered minor leg injuries but her bodyguard was killed, senior party officials said. "Sheikh Hasina has been very slightly injured in the legs although she is completely out of danger. ... Between 70 and 80 have been injured," party official Razia Mostafa told AFP at a medical college hospital where the wounded were being treated. Sheikh Hasina's political adviser, Saber Hussain Choudhury, said the opposition leader had been the target of the attack and that a bomb had been thrown on the stage as soon as she had finished speaking. Choudhury said her bodyguard died when he threw himself on her and took the brunt of the blast. He also claimed that as Hasina was being driven hurriedly away from the rally, her car was raked with bullets. "The bomb blast was an assassination attempt on the opposition leader," Choudhury told private ATN Bangla television, adding, "There were seven bullets fired at her car." He announced that the Awami League had decided to call a two-day countrywide general strike on August 24 and 25 to protest the attack. The injured crowded the hospital waiting room and corridors seeking treatment. One prominent member of the Awami League, Ivy Rahman, was seriously wounded in the blast, a doctor told AFP. Doctors scrambled to treat the injured and said it was possible the death toll might rise as a number of the wounded were in critical condition. "I have never seen such a dreadful situation. I'm having to make life and death decisions," Dr Sohel Ashkat said. Police refused to comment on the cause of the blasts or the number of casualties. Panicked demonstrators scattered after the explosions sent smoke billowing into the air. "We were all running for our lives. We were all trying to escape," said Harun Ur Rashid, 38, cradling an injured hand. "After the speech, Sheikh Hasina told us together to start the demonstration and then there were several bombs," said another demonstrator, Muhammad Alamgir, who was unhurt. "Everything was smoke. I couldn't see anything. People were running. I was so scared I couldn't move. I just sat down and people were running over me." Demonstrators angered by the attack on the rally - the latest in a spate of explosions this year - set several buildings and vehicles on fire as they clashed with security forces. Meanwhile hundreds of people, many covered in blood, crowded the corridors of hospitals in Dhaka for treatment as doctors struggled to cope with those most seriously injured. No official casualty figures have yet been released. "It was total carnage, worse than a scene from a war film, with bodies, limbs and blood everywhere," Chowdhury said. The attack follows a series of bomb blasts in the northeastern city of Sylhet this year. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. |
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