Last Updated on November 11, 2026 6:26 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
A wave of crude bomb blasts, arson and street clashes has gripped Bangladesh, as garment workers’ wage protests add to the turmoil under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s BNP government.
Police Headquarters said 33 crude bombs exploded and 13 vehicles were set ablaze on Tuesday. Of the blasts, 31 occurred across 20 locations in Dhaka, while two were reported in Chattogram and Patuakhali. Police arrested 59 suspects in the capital.
In Faridpur, bus driver Kalachan Sheikh died from smoke inhalation after attackers torched his parked vehicle while he slept inside. Blasts near Dhaka University injured a driver and damaged a car. Police recovered unexploded bombs in Dhanmondi, including near Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s demolished home.
In Gopalganj, clashes between police and protesters linked by local authorities to the banned Awami League and its student wing, Chhatra League, left a police vehicle burning. Border guards were deployed, while blockades also disrupted traffic near the Padma Bridge.
The violence also targeted the ruling party. A BNP office in Khulna’s Dacope area was set ablaze on Tuesday night. District BNP leader Monirul Hasan accused Awami League activists of the attack and alleged that a crude bomb was thrown at another party office in Batiaghata. The allegations have not been independently verified.
Branches of Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel laureate and former interim government head Muhammad Yunus, were attacked in Pabna, Netrokona and Cox’s Bazar. At Pabna’s Dogachi branch on Wednesday, attackers smashed windows and set fire to the entrance and signboard. Residents extinguished the flames before major damage.
Separately, garment workers are demanding a rise in monthly minimum pay from 12,500 taka to 30,000 taka, after protests and police clashes forced hundreds of factories to shut. “Everything costs more now,” worker Shilpi Khatun told Reuters. A revised wage structure is due in December, but the increase remains undecided. Garments generate more than 80% of Bangladesh’s export earnings.
The unrest coincides with ousted premier Sheikh Hasina’s plan to return from India in December. Hasina, sentenced to death in absentia over the 2024 protest crackdown, denies wrongdoing. Her request for new travel documents has been rejected by Dhaka. The BNP blames Awami League supporters for recent violence, but responsibility for individual attacks remains under investigation.
Police chief Ali Hossain Fakir has ordered tighter patrols nationwide, as the crisis raises fresh security and diplomatic concerns for neighbouring India