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Bangladeshi ex-PM Khaleda Zia sued over arson attack on public bus

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Scores of Bangladeshi opposition leaders and activists including ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia have been sued over Tuesday's deadly arson attack in eastern Bangladesh during the countrywide non-stop blockade, local police said Wednesday.

According to a police official who preferred to be unnamed, two lawsuits were filed in Comilla district, some 92 km east of capital Dhaka, on Tuesday night against 56 named and dozens of other unnamed people.

The police official from Comilla also told Xinhua that Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, a leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, has been named the prime accused in the cases.

At least seven passengers were burnt to death and 16 others either injured or burnt early on Tuesday as miscreants hurled a bomb at a bus in Bangladesh's eastern Comilla district.

"BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) Chairperson Khaleda Zia is named as an instigator in both cases as the arson attack was carried out in line with her instruction," said the police official.

A BNP spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Khaleda Zia's opposition alliance including key Jamaat-e-Islami party has been observing the non-stop blockade across the country since Jan. 5, demanding fresh elections under a non-party caretaker government system.

The fresh wave of violence has resulted in the deaths of 42 people and injuries of hundreds as the anti-government protesters battled with law enforcers, attacked rivals, torched vehicles and targeted railways since the morning of Jan. 6. Endi