Staff Correspondent

Another phase of the 48-hour road, rail, and waterways blockade, enforced by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and like-minded opposition parties, is underway across the country amid arson attacks.

The ongoing blockade started at 6am on Sunday and will end at 6am on Tuesday.

2:10pm/Bus torched in Mirpur

Miscreants set fire to a bus of Projapoti Paribahan in Dhaka’s Mirpur-10 area on Sunday afternoon.

Firefighters were alerted to the incident around 1:10pm, said Fire Service and Civil Defence media official Talha Bin Jashim.

Two firefighting units rushed to the spot and doused the fire, he added.

1:05pm/BNP men stage demos in Barishal

BNP activists and leaders brought out a procession in the Nothullabad area of Barishal city this morning. They staged demonstrations by burning a tyre on the road.

Besides, miscreants set alight a bus in the city’s Kashipur area in the early hours of Sunday.

Sagar Hossain Molla, a security guard, said a group of 15-16 youths torched the bus parked beside the road.

On information, members of fire service and police rushed to the spot and put out the fire, he added.

In the capital, the presence of public transport was thin in the morning. The number of vehicles was increasing with the passage of time.

At least nine vehicles were set on fire in the past 10 hours until 6am on Sunday in different places of the country, ahead of the nationwide blockade.

Seven vehicles were set alight in Dhaka city, and one each in Gazipur, and Barishal Sadar upazila, according to the media cell of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The Border Guard Bangladesh authorities said they have deployed 152 platoons of the force across the country, including 27 in Dhaka and adjacent districts, to maintain law and order situation.

Besides, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has deployed 460 patrol teams in the country. Of those, 160 teams have been deployed in the capital, said ANM Imran Khan, media officer-2 of the RAB headquarters.