Explosion at Mirakdim municipal mayor’s house, 16 hurt

The injured include the municipal mayor, his wife, panel mayor, and councillors

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An explosion took place followed by a fire at Mirakdim municipal mayor’s house in Munshiganj on Tuesday night.

At least 16 people, including the Municipal Mayor, Abdus Salam, panel mayor, and councillors got injured over the incident. Of whom, nine of them have been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s (DMCH) burn unit in critical condition.

The incident took place around 8:30pm on Tuesday, confirmed Munshiganj Sadar police OC Abu Bakul Siddiqui to the media.

Family members of the injured claim that a rival group carried out a bomb attack. However, police still maintain that they are yet to determine the origin of the explosion and fire.

The injured are Mirkadim Municipal Mayor Abdus Salam, 55, his wife Kanon Begum, 40, Panel Mayor Rahim Badsha, 45, Mohammad Awlad Hossain, 42, Md Matazul Islam, 25, and Md Mainuddin, 44, Mosharraf Hossain, 42, Shyamol Das, 45, Panna Mia, 50, Kalu Mia, 40, Md Idris Ali, 50, Md Sohail, 52, Deen Islam, 40, and several others.

The remaining seven injured are admitted to Munshiganj General Hospital with burn and smoke injuries.

According to local and eyewitness sources, hearing the screams of the injured, locals rushed to the spot and saw the house on fire. The injured were later rescued and sent to Munshiganj General Hospital. Nine people have been admitted to Sheikh Hasina Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College with serious injuries.

A woman present at the site said: "I ran to the mayor’s house after hearing people’s shouts. We went there and found out that a gas cylinder had exploded. Later we heard some people bombed the place.”

Meanwhile, injured municipal panel mayor Awlad Hossain's cousin Sentu Mia said that Abdus was holding a meeting at his residence with all the councilors and staff of the municipality. At one point in the meeting, the mayor's residence caught fire and the loud explosion went off, similar to a bomb blast.

“It is believed that the people of former mayor Shahidul Islam carried out the bomb attack on the house of the current mayor,” he alleged.

Munshiganj Sadar police OC Abu Bakal Siddiqui told the media that police went to the spot immediately. However, the cause of the accident is still unknown for now.

“There are allegations that the explosion was a bomb blast. A team of CID and bomb experts are coming from Dhaka to investigate. Necessary actions will be taken on the basis of their investigation.”