DHAKA: Bangladesh’s fire department said it will request an intelligence probe into possible sabotage after a blaze gutted thousands of shops at a shopping center in Dhaka on Saturday, just days after another massive fire destroyed a popular clothing market.
The blaze at New Supermarket in central Dhaka took 28 firefighting units several hours to bring under control.
Teams, including the military, remained at the site to contain smoke that was still spewing from the shopping complex in the evening.
The incident came less than two weeks after another blaze destroyed thousands of shops in Dhaka’s crowded Bangabazar, a popular market that had recently stocked up on goods ahead of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.
“One after another fire incident is taking place. I will call on the intelligence agencies to check if there is any sabotage,” Brig. Gen. Md. Moin Uddin, director-general of the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defense, told reporters.
Army and air force personnel were called to New Supermarket to help bring the fire under control as flames quickly spread across the cramped three-story complex.
At least 28 people, including 19 firemen, were injured in the blaze, Lt. Col. Mohammed Tajul Islam Chowdhury, the fire department’s operations director, told Arab News.
“Our teams are working. Hopefully, the operation will be completed by tonight. Members from other armed forces, law enforcement agencies, volunteers and civilians were also injured and are now under treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he said, adding that more 1,300 shops in the complex were damaged.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
“It always takes time to determine the cause of a fire. An investigation committee will be formed shortly,” Chowdhury said.
Building and industrial fires have killed hundreds of Bangladeshis in recent years, drawing attention to faulty electrical and gas installations.
Last month, at least 23 people were killed and dozens injured when an explosion ripped through a building in a crowded area of Dhaka.
The blast was later blamed on a faulty gas line.
Bangladesh fire service seeks sabotage probe after second market blaze
https://arab.news/nhy4y
Bangladesh fire service seeks sabotage probe after second market blaze
- At least 28 people, including 19 firemen, injured in fire at New Supermarket in central Dhaka
- Another blaze gutted thousands of shops in Dhaka’s Bangabazar earlier this month
Palestine Action hunger strike prisoner loses ability to speak
- Heba Muraisi unable to ‘form sentences’ as she feels ‘weaker as each day passes’
- Fellow activist Teuta Hoxha ‘virtually bedridden’ as hunger strike continues
LONDON: A prisoner on hunger strike in the UK, detained for activities in support of the banned group Palestine Action, has lost the ability to speak, The Independent reported.
Heba Muraisi said in a statement that she can no longer “form sentences, and (is) struggling to maintain conversation.” She added via the Prisoners for Palestine group that she feels “weaker as each day passes.”
Campaigners say another prisoner on hunger strike now cannot stand up. Eight activists initially went on strike awaiting trial for a range of alleged offenses relating to Palestine Action, including violence and criminal damage.
Earlier this month two of the activists, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, paused their strikes after 48 days and were admitted to hospital.
As well as Muraisi, three others remain on hunger strike: Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello.
Hoxha, according to Prisoners for Palestine, is “no longer able to stand without blacking out,” experiences “increasing levels of brain fog” and is “virtually bedridden.”
The hunger strikers are demanding immediate bail and to be allowed to “send and receive communications without restriction, surveillance, or interference from the prison administration.”
The eight have been charged over two incidents, a break-in at a Royal Air Force base in June that saw two military aircraft damaged, and a break-in at a facility owned by Israeli-linked defense company Elbit Systems UK on Nov. 19, 2024.
A spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine said: “Unlike the prison guards, who lock up the prisoners early to go home to their Christmas dinner, the hunger strikers don’t get a Christmas break.
“Just like the Christians in Gaza, who continue to suffer in the freezing cold at the hands of the settler-colonial entity.
“The hunger strikers say to us, don’t forget the people of Palestine over Christmas, and continue to demand a meeting with the British government on their behalf.”
Lawyers acting for the eight have said they risk death if their strike continues and the government does not intervene.
Earlier this month, protests took place led by MP Zarah Sultana over claims that Zuhrah had been refused an ambulance, and the hunger strikers’ legal teams have begun action against the government over what they say are breaches of its own prison safety policy framework.
Prisons Minister James Timpson said: “We are very experienced at dealing with hunger strikes. Unfortunately, over the last five years we have averaged over 200 hunger strike incidents every year and the processes that we have are well-established and they work very well — with prisons working alongside our NHS (National Health Service) partners every day, making sure our systems are robust and working — and they are.
“I am very clear. I don’t treat any prisoners differently to others. That is why we will not be meeting any prisoners or their representatives.
“We have a justice system that is based on the separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system.”
