Staff Correspondent
The second day of the 72-hour countrywide hartal amid the blockade passing its 28th day saw yet another barbaric petrol bomb attack on a train in which five persons were burnt on Monday.
Some days back a Jamalpur-bound train also came under such attack but none was hurt in that incident.
Our Gazipur Correspondent adds: The Jamalpur-bound train from Dhaka came under attack the attack at around 5:15pm near the Sreepur Railway Station, said Sreepur police OC Mohsi-Ul-Kader.
The victims are Afaz Uddin, 55, Kazem Uddin, 40, Mofij Uddin, 40 Mohammad Hossain, 60 and another unidentified man. They have been admitted to the Sreepur Upazila Health Complex. The condition of one of the victims was stated to be critical. Railway authorities have already announced bounty for catching the trouble mongers.
Meanwhile, stray clashes, violence, vandalism and removal of rail tracks took place on Monday, the second day of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)--led 20-party alliance's three-day hartal amid the ongoing non-stop blockade.
In the capital city pickets blasted eight crude bombs near the court area in the old part of Dhaka. Two more innocents became victims of a crude bomb blast in Old Dhaka. Thirty-two-year-old rickshaw-puller Abdul Malek and another man Md Ali, 25, were hit by the blasts in Nawabpur area on their way to Chawkbazar.
Fire was set to passenger buses in Gabtoli area's Baghbari and also at Gulshan in the city. Miscreants torched another passenger bus in city's Mirpur area on Monday night.
Fire Service sources said that the hartal-blockaders set fire to a passenger bus in the area around 7:45pm. On information, two fire fighting units rushed in and doused the blaze. No one was injured in the incident.
Meanwhile, lawyers loyal to BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and ruling Awami scuffled at the Supreme Court on the day.
Meanwhile, the police detained 26 activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir in separate crackdowns in Dhaka ahead of the second day's hartal, an official of media wing of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told The Daily Observer.
Our Chittagong Correspondent adds: Rail communication of Chittagong with the rest of the country was restored after 10 hours of disruption following a train derailment caused by removal of fishplates from railway tracks in Mirsarai Upazila of Chittagong.
The engine and two bogies of Mymensingh Express, a Chittagong-bound train from Bangabandhu Bridge (east), veered off the tracks at around 4:00am after miscreants removed the fishplates in Boro Takia area snapping the rail link at around 2:30pm, said Arabinda Sarker, a member of Chittagong Government Railway Police.
At least 10 passengers were injured in the train derailment and received treatment at a local hospital, our Chittagong correspondent reports quoting Firoz Iftekhar, divisional transportation officer of Bangladesh Railway East Zone.
Trips of five trains -- Subarno Express, Mahanagar Provati, Mahanagar Gudhuli, Karnaphuli Express and Sagarika Express - were cancelled following the derailment, Iftekhar told The Daily Observer.
A relief train from Pahartali Railway Workshop in Chittagong reached the spot at around 8.00am and salvaged the derailed engine and carriages after over six hours of frantic efforts. The train service resumed at 2:30pm. A five-member probe committee headed by the divisional transportation officer has been formed to investing the incident, the railway official said.
In another incident, miscreants hurled a cocktail at Chittagong court building on Monday. However, no one was injured in the incident.
In Rangpur, police arrested 21 activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami-Chhatra-Shibir from different areas of the district until Monday morning.
In Satkhira, police arrested 20 people including 10 activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir from different parts of the district early Monday on charge of violence in the name of hartal.
In Sirajganj, local unit of Jamaat-e-Islami called a daylong hartal in the district for Wednesday protesting the death of a Jamaat leader in police custody after his arrest early Monday.  Earlier, Saidul Islam, 48, secretary of Bakua union unit of Jamaat, who was arrested after a clash with police at Bakua village in Ullahpara upazila on Sunday, died at Sirajganj General Hospital on Monday.