DHAKA, Aug 21: Fourteen people were killed and more than 200 others wounded in a series of bomb attacks on a rally of the Awami League here on Saturday afternoon.
The first bomb went off immediately after Sheik Hasina, the former prime minister and president of the Awami League, finished her speech at the rally, organized to condemn a wave of explosions in Sylhet that killed at least two people earlier this month.
Sheikh Hasina and her party's top leaders who were flanking her, made a narrow escape. However, a bodyguard of the Awami League chief died.
The first bomb exploded a few metres from a truck, a makeshift platform from which Sheikh Hasina delivered her address, thanking her supporters for making the event a success.
Witnesses said at least a dozen grenades exploded subsequently at the venue and its vicinity, killing at least 14 and injuring some 200 others.
Amid the din and commotion that followed, security personnel and League leaders managed to take Sheikh Hasina to her bulletproof private jeep that was parked near the truck used as a makeshift podium.
Among the 200 injured were AL presidium member Suranjit Sengupta, central committee leader Ivi Rahman, MP Sheikh Selim and Akhteruzzaman, a former MP. Ivi Rahman lost one leg while Surenjit was hit by splinters in his head.
PROTEST: The explosions triggered violent protests across Bangladesh, leaving over 50 people injured and a number of buildings damaged.
Angry leaders of the Awami League's local units called for a dawn-to-dusk strike in Chittagong on Sunday as well as in the districts of Gopalganj, Gazipur and Bagerhat to protest the "attempt on life" of Sheikh Hasina.
The League's central working committee, at an emergency meeting in the evening, decided to enforce a general strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.
CONDEMNATION: Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia condemned the attack and assured the nation that the culprits would not go unpunished.
Almost all opposition parties issued statements condemning the attack and called for exemplary punishment to those responsible.
