Bomb blasts near Bangladesh ex-PM home

Three handmade bombs exploded outside Khaleda Zia’s office; after a 72-hour strike called by her, govt had cut off power supply, cable and Internet connections to office

Dhaka: Three handmade bombs exploded on Saturday near former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia’s office despite a police presence there.

Khaleda Zia has been staying at her office since January 3. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

The blasts took place around 9.15 pm (local time) within 150 yards of the office, where the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief has been living since January 3. About 50 police personnel had been posted around the office, which was experiencing a power cut since early on Saturday Yesterday, hours after the disconnection of power, internet and cable connections were also severed to Zia’s office.

Khaleda’s Gulshan office staff found the cable network snapped when they turned on the TV around 9 am, a BNP)official said.

The Internet connection was also severed since that time, the official told The Daily Star. Earlier, the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco) had stopped power supply. A Desco official said he cut BNP chief’s political office’s power line at around 2.42 am on instruction from top authorities of the Gulshan Police.

The disconnections came 11 hours after shipping minister Shajahan Khan threatened that water and electricity lines of Khaleda’s office will be disconnected if she did not withdraw blockade by February 2.

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