The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday arrested seven more people, including BNP leaders and activists, from  different parts of the country  in connection with their alleged involvement in vandalism, arson and sabotage during the nationwide blockade and shutdown, enforced by BNP and other like-minded parties. Md Shakhawat Islam , convenor of Narayanganj Metropolitan Swechasebak Dal, and Md Gias Uddin, convenor of Uttar Madarsha union Jubo Dal of Chattogram, were among the arrestees. 48 hr blockade: 418 RAB patrol teams deployed They were arrested from Dhaka's Sutrapur and Chattogram's Hathazari area, respectively. Five others were arrested from different parts of the country, said RAB Headquarters Legal and Media Wing Assistant Director ASP Al Amin. So far, RAB has arrested a total of 847 people in connection with violence and sabotage in different parts of the country, including the attack and sabotage on October 28. 6 more arrested over political violence, sabotage: RAB Meanwhile, 418 RAB patrol teams, including 126 in the capital, have been deployed across the country in order to prevent violence and vandalism and to maintain the law and order situation. The elite force is providing security for passenger and goods transport, long-distance public transport, and cargo transport by patrolling in different parts of the country. 820 arrested by RAB since Oct. 28 for political violence, sabotage; mostly BNP In addition, RAB's intelligence surveillance is continuing in important places, including bus stands and railway stations, to prevent any kind of vandalism and violence, said the RAB official.

Director General of the Fire Service and Civil Defense Department Brig General Md Moin Uddin has urged the intelligence agencies to investigate whether there was any sabotage behind the recent series of fire incidents. He said this while replying to a question from journalists after a fire broke out in New Supermarket near New Market early Saturday (April 15, 2023) morning. "We're working for you with risks. One after another fire incident is taking place. I will call on the intelligence agencies to check if there is any sabotage,” he said. Read more: Fire at Dhaka’s New Supermarket now under control The fire broke out on the third floor of New Supermarket and the members of the Border Guard Bangladesh fire service, police, Rapid Action Battalion, army, air force, Dhaka WASA water-carrying vehicles, were working to bring the fire under control, he added. “We still don't know why the fire broke out here. We have brought the fire under control but could not douse it,” said Brig Gen Moin adding that they are facing difficulty to bring the fire under control because of onlookers. "If everyone remains aware at every level, then it is possible to survive the fire. High volt bulbs are used here. Accidents happen because they are not aware. We urge shop owners in all markets to refrain from using high-voltage lights,” the fire service DG said. Read More: Fire at Barishal Plaza, opposite Bangabazar Market, doused

A Khulna court on Wednesday sent 66 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) including the party’s Khulna city unit member secretary Shafiqul Alam Tuhin to jail in three sabotage cases.  Khulna Additional Metropolitan and Sessions Judge SM Ashiqur Rahman passed the order turning down their bail pleas, BNP’s counsel Lawyer Touhidur Rahman Tushar told UNB. Read more: Simultaneous Movement: BNP rally begins at Dhaka’s Nayapaltan Khulna Metropolitan BNP convenor Shafiqul Alam Mona alleged that the police filed a case in every police station in Khulna on charges of sabotage to thwart BNP's divisional rally in Dhaka on December 10. In these cases, about 50 leaders and activists were arrested and imprisoned for a long time while others secured six weeks' anticipatory bail from the High Court. Meanwhile, hundreds of leaders and activists of BNP and affiliated organisations present on the court premises became agitated following the court order. Read more: Tenth-grader in Ctg jail after getting picked up at BNP rally They brought out a procession demanding withdrawal of the ‘false and fabricated cases’, unconditional release of their activists and resignation of the illegal government.

Police on Sunday arrested 31 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chattra Shibir from a procession they brought out as part of their ‘ongoing anti-government movement’ in station area of Dinajpur town. Leaders and activists of different areas of Jamaat-Shibir brought out a protest procession around 7 am demanding the release of party leaders and activists from , said Tanvirul Islam Tanvir, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali police station. Read more: Jamaat, Shibir men clash with police over holding mass procession in Malibagh Police arrested 31 people when they tried to escape on a bus sensing police presence. The leaders and activists from various areas including Chiribandar Debiganj were gathering in the town and trying to carry out sabotage, said the OC. The police also seized the bus, he added. Read more: 150 Jamaat-Shibir men sued, 6 held over attack on police in Rajshahi Legal action is underway against the detainees in this regard, said OC Tanvir.

Awami League General Secretary and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader alleged that opposition BNP is preparing for major attacks and sabotage across the country. "Militancy in the country seems inactive but BNP is active in disguise. Detectives have such information," he said. He said this during an exchange of views with reporters after a meeting at Setu Bhaban in the capital on Thursday. Read more: AL to stay on streets to prevent BNP’s anarchy: Quader  Quader said that BNP does not need to rescue democracy again as democracy has been freed long ago under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He said that BNP should be banned for lying and conspiracy, not Awami League. The AL leader said his party will remain on the streets to protect people's lives and property and continue their mass campaign and peace rally until election. He said that Awami League does not call counter-programme as his party has no desire to clash with BNP. Read more: If BNP comes to power 1971 spirit will vanish: Quader BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday urged Awami League to refrain from holding counter programmes on the days of BNP and other opposition parties’ programmes. “Please do not hold any counter programmes and obstruct those. Awami League and the government have to take the responsibility if any untoward situation is created for this reason,” the BNP leader said. Before this, the board meeting of Bangladesh Bridge Authority was held at Setu Bhaban. In the meeting, it was decided to exempt toll only to the President on all bridges including Padma Bridge.

Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists of Dhaka University unit beat up some Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists when they attempted to enter the campus around 10 am this morning. The incident took place in front of Sir AF Rahman Hall. Later, the JCD activists were handed over to the Shahbagh police station on “suspicion of sabotage”. Riazul Islam, President of Sir AF Rahman Hall Chhatra League unit, said, “After checking their mobile phones, we were confirmed that they were JCD activists, and we handed them over to the police.” Read more: BNP activists, locals complain of internet service disruption in and around Golapbagh rally venue

Fires burned and ammunition exploded at a depot in Crimea on Wednesday, a day after the latest suspected Ukrainian attack on a military site in the Russia-annexed peninsula, highlighting the challenges facing Moscow. The peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, was once a secure base that Moscow’s forces have used to launch attacks — and it was a staging ground for the start of the Feb. 24 invasion. But in recent days, explosions have destroyed several Russian planes at an air base in Crimea, and munitions blew up Tuesday. Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the most recent blasts Tuesday while Russia blamed “sabotage.” The spate of attacks represented the latest setback for Moscow, which began its invasion with hopes of taking the capital of Kyiv and much of the country in a lightning blitz but soon became bogged down in the face of fiercer than expected resistance from Ukrainian forces. As the war nears the half-year mark, the sides are now engaged in a war of attrition, fighting village to village, largely in the country's east. The attacks in Crimea could open a new front that would represent a significant escalation in the war and further stretch Russia's military resources. “Russian commanders will highly likely be increasingly concerned with the apparent deterioration in security across Crimea, which functions as rear base area for the occupation," Britain's Defense ministry wrote on Twitter. But it was not clear whether the attacks in Crimea would unblock the stalemate, as Ukrainian and Russian forces grind each other down in a war that has driven millions from their homes, disrupted food supplies worldwide and occasionally raised concerns about a nuclear accident. Read:Ukrainians flee grim life in Russian-occupied Kherson On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to travel to Ukraine for a meeting with Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss getting out grain shipments that are critical to feeding the world's hungry. They are also expected to talk about a possible fact-finding mission to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling. Tuesday's explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in Crimea, leading to chaotic scenes when around 3,000 people had to be evacuated. As a vivid reminder of Russia's vulnerability in Crimea, the peninsula's regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said that authorities were still fighting the fires Wednesday with a helicopter, as minutions continued to detonate. He said that a search for perpetrators of the attack was underway. The Kommersant business paper also reported explosions Tuesday at a base in Gvardeyskoye. By Wednesday, there still was no comment from the Russian authorities. The British intelligence report noted that Gvardeyskoye and Dzhankoi “are home to two of the most important Russian military airfields in Crimea.” A week earlier, Russia's military came under pressure on the peninsula when Ukraine said nine Russian warplanes were destroyed following explosions at Crimea's Saki air base. The massive explosions sent plumes of smoke rising over nearby beaches and caused sunbathers to flee. At the time, Moscow suggested that the blasts were accidental, perhaps caused by a careless smoker, an explanation that drew mockery from Ukrainian authorities who hinted at their involvement in the attack but didn't directly claim responsibility. On the eastern front, the stalemate continued, with the shelling causing ever more death and destruction. In the Donetsk region that is the current focus of the Russian offensive, two civilians were killed and seven others were wounded by recent Russian shelling of several towns and villages. Meanwhile, in the south, Russian long-range bombers fired cruise missiles at the Odesa region overnight, leaving four people injured, according to regional administration spokesman Oleh Bratchuk. In Mykolaiv, also in the south, two Russian missiles damaged a university building early Wednesday but injured no one. The Russian forces also shelled Kharkiv in the northeast and various parts of the surrounding region overnight, damaging residential buildings and civilian infrastructure but inflicting no casualties.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud said it is becoming clearer that sabotage was behind the recent fire incidents including at BM Container Depot and a moving train. The minister said this while replying to journalists at the secretariat on Monday. Hasan Mahmud said he was saying from the beginning that investigation is needed to identify whether there was any sabotage behind the container depot fire. After that fire broke out inside a moving train in Sylhet from the toilet and another train caught fire in Khulna. Also read: Online news portals cannot legally broadcast talk shows, bulletins: Hasan Mahmud “The sabotage conspiracy has become clearer gradually. Actually these incidents are being planned to fade the celebratory atmosphere prevailing across the country by spreading panic,” said Hasan Mahmud. “The matter is under investigation and it will become clearer after getting a report. I personally believe there was sabotage behind it.” Earlier, Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) leaders handed a a memorandum with six demands: to stop online video broadcasting of newspapers, stop broadcasting news on IP TV, full implementation of clean feed, launch of TRP service, digitization of cable network and imposing special tax on companies producing advertisements with foreign models. Also read: Journo Fazle Elahi to get justice: Hasan Mahmud The minister said, “The online versions of newspapers were registered on condition that they will only upload the contents of the newspaper. Online versions of newspapers and news portals don’t have legal approval to broadcast talk shows or bulletins.” ATCO’s other written demands will be tested by the ministry, he added.

BNP executive committee member Nipun Roy was released from jail on bail on Friday, nearly two and a half months after her arrest. Read: BNP leader Nipun Roy arrested in city She walked out of the Keraniganj Central Jail around 1pm after the bail order reached the jail authorities, said her father and BNP vice chairman Netai Roy Chowdhury. Party leaders and workers and relatives greeted her with flowers as she came out of the jail. She went back home right from there. Read:Interrogate Nipun Roy at jail gate: Court On March 28, Nipun was arrested by a team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) from her Rayerbazar residence on charge of conspiracy to carry out sabotage by torching buses during Hefazat-e-Islam's shutdown. Later, two cases were filed against her with Jatrabari and Hazaribagh police stations. Read: BNP leader Nipun Roy, 6 others land in jail On June 16, the High Court granted ad-interim bail to the BNP leader in the two cases, clearing the way of her release from jail. Nipun is the daughter-in-law of BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy.