Sadia Begum cries her heart out after her son Abul Kalam, a victim of an arson attack in Moghbazar, died at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq

Arson attacks by pro-blockaders continue to take heavy toll, leaving common people in a state of panic.

A bus helper was burnt to death while asleep in a parked bus in Gazipur, and a car driver died from burns in the capital yesterday, taking the death toll to 22 in blockade violence.

At least 20 burn victims, mostly from low income groups, have undergone treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital alone since the BNP-led alliance's countrywide non-stop blockade began on January 6.

As in previous days, pro-blockaders yesterday carried out arson attacks, mostly at night, on at least 18 vehicles in several districts. Eight of them were attacked in Dhaka, said fire service officials.

Around 200 vehicles were torched across the country in the last 11 days, they added.

People had to endure more suffering as the BNP-led alliance enforced a dawn-to-dusk shutdown yesterday on top of the ongoing blockade.

Though vehicular movement in the capital was almost normal, only a few long-route buses left the capital.

Train service, brought down to its knees by acts of sabotage, ran behind schedule, causing untold sufferings to thousands of commuters. River communication, however, was normal.

O-level and A-level examinees had to sit for exams at 7:30pm and 11:45pm yesterday, as their exam schedules were changed due to hartal. After a short recess, they will have to take another test this morning.

In Gazipur, bus helper Tofazzal Hossain, 17, of Sunamganj, was burnt to death while he was asleep inside the bus at Mohishbathan Bot Tola on Dhaka-Tangail Highway.

Driver Selim Mia parked the bus next to his house on the highway around 2:30 am and went home to take a nap, said Rafikul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kaliakoir Police Station.

Tofazzal shut the doors of the bus that carried factory labourers, and slept inside the vehicle. Around 3:30am, locals saw the bus burning, he said.

Fire fighters doused the blaze and recovered Tofazzal's body lying near the door of the bus. Tofazzal might have tried to get out after the bus was set on fire.

The OC said it was not clear how the bus was set alight.

Khandakar Mofizur Rahman, bus owner and president of Kaliakoir upazila Sramik League, said, "The pro-hartal pickets torched the bus as I spoke against hartal and violence in a rally yesterday [Wednesday]."

In Dhaka, private car driver Abul Kalam, 26, who suffered 33 percent burns in a petrol bomb attack at Moghbazar on Friday night, died at the DMCH around 12:30pm.

Pro-blockade pickets hurled a petrol bomb at the car parked near Celebration Party Centre at Moghbazar, leaving him seriously injured.

As doctors conveyed the sad news to Kalam's family members, they broke down in tears.

Blaming country's violent political culture for his brother's death, Ibrahim Hawlader said, "We don't do politics. We are ordinary people. Why do they attack people like us? ... Could they ever fathom the pain of my brother or the loss of my family?"

In Rangpur, police arrested 17 activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir from Mithapukur upazila for their alleged links with Wednesday's arson attack on a bus which claimed five lives.

None has as yet claimed the body of the child who was burnt to death in Rangpur in Wednesday's attack. The body was kept at Rangpur Medical College Hospital mortuary.

Meanwhile, miscreants hurled two crude bombs in front of the residence of Gowher Rizvi, the prime minister's international affairs advisor, around 8:30pm in the capital, Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gulshan police station told The Daily Star.

Shahbagh police recovered four crude bombs from the side of a Public Library building in the evening.

In Chittagong, two crude bombs were exploded outside the office of ruling alliance lawmaker Moinuddin Khan Badal in Chandgaon area around 7:20pm. None was hurt.

In another incident in the port city, around 40 to 50 miscreants blockaded two goods-laden trucks and set them ablaze. They also vandalised some other vehicles in Sitakunda upazila last night, said police.

In Habiganj, three persons, who were on a motorbike, suffered burns as alleged blockaders threw a crude bomb at them in front of the police superintendent's residence around 1:00pm.

At least 20 people, including three policemen, were injured in a clash between police and BNP activists on Saifur Rahman road in Moulvibazar around 2:00pm.

In another incident in Natore, pro-blockade pickets torched a Rajshahi-bound cement-laden truck and looted money from its driver in Ahammadpur area early yesterday. Both the driver and helper were injured.

Pro-blockaders torched four trucks and a private car in Dinajpur and Joypurhat on Wednesday night, two trucks at Sirajganj, a bus in Magura and a covered-van in Feni yesterday.

Law enforcers detained 61 Jamaat and BNP men in Satkhira, 55 in Jessore and 25 in Chapainawabganj.