A child was among four people killed in an arson attack on a train in Bangladesh on the eve of a tense election – and schools and polling stations were also set on fire.
Eight people were injured when the fire spread to four coaches on the Dhaka-bound Benapole Express train on Friday evening, with the opposition blaming the ruling party.
Police said on Saturday that unidentified assailants targeted at least five primary schools – including four polling stations – in the northeast of the country.
The main opposition – Bangladesh The Nationalist Party (BNP) is boycotting the general elections for the second time, calling Sunday's elections a phony ploy by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“The investigation is ongoing, but it appears that the train was deliberately set on fire,” said Firdous Ahmed, a railway police official.
Local residents helped firefighters
Kazi Shafiq Alam, police chief of Ghazipur, where some of the fires were reported, said his forces “intensified their patrols and remained alive.”[s] “On high alert to thwart any untoward incident.”
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party asked citizens to abstain from voting and called for a two-day strike in the country starting Saturday.
Hasina rejects the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's demands to resign and cede power to a neutral authority to administer the elections, and accuses the opposition of inciting protests that have resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people since late October.
Normally busy roads in the capital, Dhaka, were largely deserted on Saturday, with armored vehicles patrolling the city.
Arsonists attacked polling stations in the northeastern areas of Moulavibazar and Habiganj, police said, adding that similar incidents had been reported across the country over the past two days.
In the coastal district of Khulna, police arrested two people on Thursday evening after they were arrested by local citizens for allegedly trying to set fire to a school.
Khulna Police Chief Saeedur Rahman said local residents foiled another attempt to set fire to a primary school building in the same area on Friday.
He added: “We are on alert and searching for the arsonists.”
Passenger train that caught fire
A relative of the victim mourns near the recovered bodies
About 800,000 police and security personnel are expected to guard polling stations on Sunday, while officials from the army, navy and air force have also been deployed across the country.
Last month, protesters set fire to another train, killing four people during a nationwide strike called by the opposition.
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The train fire that broke out on Friday in Dhaka's Warri area was brought under control by seven firefighting units after about an hour, said Shahjahan Sikder, a fire service official.
An official at Warri police station said officers suspected “sabotage” and would only be able to confirm the cause of the fire after investigation.
