Bomb blasts rock opposition rally in Bangladesh

At least 14 people were killed and more than 300 injured, including senior opposition members, United News of Bangladesh reported.

The death toll could increase as some of the injured were in a critical condition, hospital doctors said, adding that one opposition member, Ivy Rahman, had lost her legs.

No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil claimed they targeted Hasina.

Witnesses reported seeing many people being taken to hospitals.

“People were covered with blood, many injured were crying for help,” said Mohamamd Yasin, a rickshaw driver near the scene of the blasts.

“It was so ghastly and so terrible that I’ve no words to describe,” said Farook Khan, an opposition lawmaker who was standing close to Hasina.

“It seemed to me that some of the bombs were thrown from multi-storey buildings near the scene.” He estimated that at least 15,000 people were at the rally when the explosions happened.

Doctors at Dhaka’s state-run hospital appealed for blood and said they were overwhelmed with the arrival of so many injured people.

Hundreds of relatives thronged outside the hospital to look for their loved ones. Many of the injured arrived at hospitals in slow-moving rickshaws.

Angry opposition supporters smashed or burned dozens of passing vehicles to protest the attack. Police fired tear gas to disperse the rampaging crowd, witnesses said.

Police and paramilitary troops patrolled the streets in central Dhaka as protesters took to the streets shouting anti-government slogans.

The rally was called to protest a series of bomb blasts early this month that killed two people, including an opposition supporter, in the north-eastern city of Sylhet.