BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s motorcade came under attack on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Feni this afternoon when she was en route to visit Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar.
Miscreants carried out the attack on the motorcade and vandalised 40 to 50 vehicles in Fatehpur and Mohammad Ali Bazar areas, reports our staff correspondent who is with the motorcade.
However, Khaleda was unhurt during the attack.
The attack took place around 5:00pm while Khaleda was on way to Feni Circuit House. However, she reached there safely.
After taking lunch and rest she resumed her journey for Chittagong where she will stay the night, our staff correspondent reports from the spot.
Media vehicles of The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Channel I, DBC, Boishakhi TV and Ekattor TV, were also vandalised in the attack, he said.
The attackers numbering 25 to 30 equipped with bamboo sticks also hurled brick chips at the motorcade.
In an impromptu reaction, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the government holding it responsible for the attack.
“It is a blatant terrorist attack. The government wants to foil Khaleda’s programme to visit Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar,” he alleged.
About the attack on the media vehicles, Fakhrul said it is a targeted attack that proves the government does not believe in the freedom of press.
Besides, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed said, “The government has let loose terrorists on the motorcade as it has become frightened to see the flow of people in the motorcade”.
She will resume her journey for Cox’s Bazar tomorrow and visit four Rohingya refugee camps in Balukhali, Boalmari and Jamtali in Ukhia upazila.
She, former prime minister, will distribute relief materials among the displaced Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh to flee Myanmar’s persecution, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed. Source: The daily star
Khaleda, is likely to return to Dhaka on Tuesday, said the BNP leader.
The BNP chief went out of her Gulshan-2 residence in Dhaka at 10:40am. She has been accompanied by Fakhrul and Vice Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu.
Later, other BNP leaders and activists joined with Khaleda’s motorcade from Nayapaltan central office.
Khaleda last went to Cox's Bazar in November 2012 to visit Buddhist monasteries and houses which were damaged in communal attacks in Ramu upazila.