The nation is recalling the countrywide series of bomb attacks carried out by the banned extremist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) on August 17, 2005.
Various sociocultural organizations and political parties are commemorating the 18th anniversary of the serial blasts with a renewed call to stamp out extremism from the country.
On this day in 2005, around 500 bombs went off at 300 locations in all districts of the country, excluding Munshiganj. The bombs exploded in the space of half an hour from 11:30am.
JMB, which later claimed responsibility for the blasts, carried out the attacks when the BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government was in power.
The 30-minute mayhem left two dead in Chapainawabganj and Savar, injuring 200 others in different parts of the country.
According to police, 159 cases were lodged in different parts of the country over the blasts.
Trial in 94 cases has already been completed in which 334 people were sentenced with different terms in jail while trial in 55 cases against 386 JMB operatives were under trial, the sources said.
A total of 349 accused in the serial blasts were acquitted of the charges, it added.
Twenty-seven accused in the serial blasts were handed down with death penalty and eight of them were hanged.
Of the 159 cases, 18 were filed in Dhaka city, eight in Chattogram Metropolitan Police, four in Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, three in Khulna Metropolitan Police, 12 in Barisal Metropolitan Police, 10 in Sylhet Metropolitan Police, 23 in Dhaka Range, 11 in Chattogram Range, 7 in Rajshahi Range, 23 in Khulna Range, 7 in Barisal Range, 16 in Sylhet Range, 8 in Rangpur Range, 6 in Mymensingh Range and three in Railway Police Range.
The JMB had shown their existence to the nation by carrying out the series blasts on August 17, 2005. But their organizational activities suffered a huge setback with the execution of death sentences of JMB's top six leaders in 2007.
The six leaders -- Shaikh Abdur Rahman, his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny, think-tank Abdul Awal, Khaled Saifullah and Salahuddin -- were hanged on March 30 in 2007 in the case for the killing of two judges in Jhalokathi district.
BDST: 0933 HRS, AUG 17, 2023
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