No end to killings

Both of them were landless. One of them, Khorshed Alam, was a day labourer and the other, Yadul Mollah, a truck helper. But they had this common dream of buying a piece of land and building a small house.

Khorshed even saved up quite a sum of money and Yadul used to work overtime to fulfil their dreams, their family members told this correspondent.

But gruesome arson attacks on trucks put an abrupt end to their dreams. Both of them died at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.

Khorshed, 35, had received 35 percent burns in Chandpur on last Thursday while Yadul, 25, was burnt 90 percent in Magura on Saturday.

"His dream has been shattered," Khorshed's shell-shocked wife Ayesha Khatun told The Daily Star at the DMCH burn unit.

Ayesha, mother of a six-year-old boy, said her husband had started working as a labourer at an agricultural field at an early age. To earn some extra money, he occasionally used to work as a cattle-rearer especially when those were carried on trucks from one place to another. He would get Tk 2,000 to 3,000 per trip.

Hailing from Kalaroa of Satkhira, the family lived at a rented house at Sharsha of Jessore. On March 15 he was on a truck that was carrying cattle to Chittagong.

Three days later, pickets allegedly hurled firebombs at the truck in Chandpur, leaving him and four others injured and the truck driver Jahangir Hossain dead. Among the injured, the owner of the truck Khandakar Sharif Uddin later died at DMCH.

Khorshed died around 1:00pm yesterday, said hospital sources.

Meanwhile, Yadul died around 10:00am at the intensive care unit of the DMCH burn unit. With 90 percent burns, he had been at the ICU since he was admitted at the hospital on Sunday, said his brother-in-law Tuhin Sardar.

Alleged blockaders hurled two firebombs at a truck Yadul and eight others were on in Moghi area under Magura Sadar upazila on Saturday night.

With Yadul, four among nine Magura burn victims succumbed to their injuries. Five others, all of whom are in critical condition, have been taking treatment at DMCH.

One of his brothers-in-law Imran, the driver of the truck, is also among the injured.

Tuhin said Yadul had lost his father several years back. He had been living with his mother at Tuhin's home over the last one and a half years since local goons grabbed their property at their village home in Malikagram under Magura Sadar upazila.

A truck helper for five years, Yadul was saving money and planning to buy some land.

"The only brother of six sisters, Yadul who was a bachelor was the most loved in their poverty-stricken family," said Tuhin.

Ninety four people have been killed so far, mostly in arson attacks, since the BNP-led 20-party alliance launched its non-stop blockade on January 6.