19 killed in 7 years, no headway in probes

Cases were filed after each incident. Police and intelligence agencies including CID and DB probed all the incidents but could not find any clue in most of the cases.

Neither the people involved in making bombs nor their networks could be detected, albeit their masterminds and godfathers.

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The latest bomb blast took place on Sunday at a public meeting of Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta MP at Derai upazila headquarters in Sunamganj, killing one and injuring at least 50.

On May 21, a grenade explosion at the shrine of Hajrat Shahjalal (RA) in the city claimed three lives and left 70 injured, including British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury.

The dead included a security official of the British High Commission.

The Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet was also injured.

Investigators could not find any clue to the incident even in a month though this was the second deadly blast in the 700 year-old shrine area in a year.

In the first incident on the night of January 12, five people were killed and 50 injured during an Urs at the shrine. Twenty-four people were arrested and taken on remand by the Kotwali police, but nothing could be unearthed.

Sources said the probe report is lying with the police headquarters in the capital. The report was not made public.

In 1997, two explosions took place at Sagardighirpar and Amabarkhana areas of the city. Chhatra league leader Ali Ahmed was killed in the Sagardighirpar blast. Several houses were damaged in the Ambarkhana blast.

On March 15, 1999, an explosion took place while bombs were being made in the house of then the ruling party lawmaker Muhibur Rahman Manik at Chhatak upazila headquarters in Sunamganj district, killing three persons.

The MP, his elder brother, a cousin and a Juba League leader and Ward commissioner along with some others were arrested and chargesheetd.

Four persons were killed in a bomb blast at a public meeting of Suranjit Sengupta at Shulla upazila headquarters on September 26, 2001.

Within four hours, another blast occurred at a house at Fazilchist in Sylhet city. Two persons engaged in making bombs were killed in the blast while Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina was addressing a big public meeting at nearby Alia Madrassah Maidan.