A gun-toting Shibir man runs to attack the other cop after neutralising one. Photo: Collected

Three law enforcers were brutally assaulted, an innocent man was killed, and at least 17 vehicles were torched and many more vandalised across the country on the first day of the nonstop blockade by the BNP-led alliance.

With road communication snapped on long routes, people, especially those in medical needs, had to go through immense sufferings.

Though trains and launches to and from Dhaka were operating normally, no long-route bus left the capital. Inter-district road communications across the country were heavily disrupted for the second straight day.

However, train and launch services resumed after remaining halted on Monday, the first anniversary of January 5 polls which brought the Awami League to power for the second time in a row. And the BNP, having boycotted the polls, ended up without any membership in parliament for the first time in 22 years.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia called for the blockade after she was barred from attending a rally on Monday to mark the anniversary of what her party terms "Democracy Killing Day". She had been confined to her Gulshan office since Saturday night.

In Rajshahi, constables Shafiqul Islam and Abdul Kuddus of Shah Makhdum Police Station were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital after they were brutally beaten up by blockaders.

Activists of the BNP's key ally Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked a police patrol car near Alif Lam Meem Brick Field on Rajshahi-Naogaon highway around 10:30am when the police team went there on information that BNP-Jamaat men were blocking the highway, said Sardar Tomij Uddin, additional commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP).

The moment the car with four cops on board reached the spot, the blockaders started throwing brick chunks at the vehicle. Shafiqul and Kuddus then got off the car and started firing rubber bullets to disperse the mob.

Outnumbered and dazed, the policemen at one stage turned the vehicle back to retreat. But the two constables could not get on it, said police.

Jamaat-Shibir men beating up a policeman on Rajshahi-Naogaon highway with the gun snatched from him in Rajshahi. Photo: Collected

The marauding activists caught the two, snatched their arms and thrashed their head with the butt of the guns, leaving them critically wounded. They also tried to damage the guns before leaving those there.

A team of border guards rushed to the scene and rescued the police members.

Five BNP-Jamaat activists were arrested and three crude bombs were recovered from the spot, claimed Iftekhair Alam, assistant commissioner of the RMP.

At Kadamtali of the capital, Ansar member Monowar Hossain suffered burns in the face and wrists after blockaders torched the vehicle he was travelling on to go to his workplace in the early morning.

In Chandpur, a youth was killed after a truck, set afire by blockaders, rammed his CNG-run three-wheeler at Ghosherhat area on Chandpur-Comilla regional highway around 9:00pm, said Mozammel Haque, officer-in-charge of Shahrasty Police Station.

The deceased was Alok Charkabatry, 30, of Barunia village in Shahrasty upazila.

In Dhaka, a BRTC bus and a private car were torched near the Rajuk Bhaban in Motijheel around 2:00pm, while 10 more vehicles were set ablaze in Tanti Bazar, Gulistan, Mohakhali, Mirpur 10, Shahbagh, Postogola, Dhamrai, Demra, Ashulia's Sreepur Bus Stand, areas in the afternoon, said Fire Service and Civil Defence officials.

Blockaders also torched vehicles in Bogra's Mohastangarh, Gazipur's Chandna, Chapainawabganj's Shibganj and Rajshahi's Binodpur.

Blockaders vandalised five vehicles near the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Old Dhaka around 11:00am and another five on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue in the evening.

In Cox's Bazar, Jamaat and BNP activists attacked and vandalised the vehicle of district council administrator Mostaq Ahmed Chowdhury at 11:00pm in Kharulia area. He was returning to the district town from Ramu. Mostaq along with three others inside the vehicle suffered injuries.

In Narayanganj, five men were injured in a clash between police and BNP men, who were trying to bring out a procession from Khanpur area, around 7:00am.

In Sylhet, police fired 23 round bullets and five tear shells to disperse pro-BNP pickets, who blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Telirai and vandalised 10 vehicles around 10:00am.

Meanwhile, four homemade bombs were exploded at Prabartak intersection in Chittagong city around 8:20pm. No casualty was reported.

"This was done to create panic among people," said Mohiuddin Mahmud, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish Police Station.

In the north, no heavy vehicle plied Rangpur-Dhaka, Bogra-Noagaon, Natore-Bogra and Bogra-Joypurhat highways.

'SPECIAL MEASURES'

In the wake of attacks on vehicles amid the nonstop blockade, the government has decided to provide police protection for passenger buses and cargo trucks operating between Dhaka and other districts.

"From tonight, we have started escorting vehicle convoys from Dhaka," SM Kamal Hossain, additional deputy inspector general of Highway Police, told The Daily Star last night.

"Initially police are escorting vehicles operating between Dhaka and Chittagong, but the same would be done on other routes too, if required."

The highway police, in association with district police and the Rapid Action Battalion will provide the service, Kamal Hossain added.

HARTAL IN RANGPUR DIV

The BNP yesterday called for a daylong hartal for today in all the eight districts of Rangpur division, protesting the arrest of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, general secretary of the party.

Fakhrul, accused in a number of cases for political violence, was arrested from the Jatiya Press Club premises yesterday afternoon. He had been staying inside the compound for around 24 hours, presumably to escape arrest.