Former Bangladeshi finance minister killed in blast
A grenade that exploded at an opposition rally in north-eastern Bangladesh killed a former finance minister and at least four other people while wounding about 100 others, police and doctors said today.
Ex-Finance Minister Shah Mohammad Ciboria, who had just finished giving a speech at the rally, was hit by yesterday’s blast and died while on the way to a hospital, doctors said.
The attack occurred at an opposition Awami League rally in Habiganj district, 75 miles northeast of the capital Dhaka, said the area’s police chief Fakhrul Islam Khan.
Khan said three people, including a nephew of Kibria, died at the scene, while a fifth victim died en route to a hospital.
Kibria, a 73-year-old diplomat-turned-lawmaker, died of bleeding from serious wounds to the head, stomach and legs, said A.K. Azad, a doctor at a private hospital in Dhaka.
“Kibria was already dead when they brought him here,” Azad said.
President Iajuddin Ahmed condemned the killing as ”cowardly” and “barbaric”.
“His great contribution will remain memorable to the nation,” Ahmed said.
Kibria served as Bangladesh’s top foreign ministry official and head of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific before joining the main opposition Awami League in 1992. He was elected an MP in 2001.
Hundreds of riot police have been deployed in Habiganj after angry opposition members smashed vehicles and attacked shops to protest the attack, Khan said.
In Dhaka, security forces went on alert as thousands of people joined a funeral prayer for Kibria at Dhaka’s Baitul Mukarram mosque today. Later, his body was taken to Dhaka University to allow the public to pay their respects before his burial.
The Awami League and its 13 political allies have called for a three-day nationwide general strike starting tomorrow to condemn the attack.
No arrests have been made and no one claimed responsibility, police said.
The Awami League blamed the government for the attack.
“The attack was part of a blueprint of the government to kill top leaders of my party,” former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, head of the Awami League, said.
Hasina recalled a similar attack on her party’s rally in Dhaka in August that killed 21 people and injured more than 300. Hasina, who was at the rally, escaped unhurt.
The government denied involvement and condemned the August attack – but failed to make any headway in catching those responsible.
Government leaders were not immediately available for comment but authorities have rejected such allegations in the past as political mudslinging.
Junior Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar told Dhaka’s New Age daily that the government has ordered a probe into the blast.
