DHAKA: A man was burnt alive when miscreants hurled petrol bomb at a truck in Bogra town while another truck came under firebomb attack in Natore early Thursday as the last day of the 108-hour hartal, called by 20-party alliance, is underway across the country, coupled with non stop blockade since January 6.

In Gazipur, pickets hurled at a Kamalapur-bound train at Joydebpur Railway Junction of the district Thursday morning that left burnt some seats of two compartments to ashes.

Some 214 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel have been deployed in capital Dhaka and other parts of the country to avoid violence during BNP-led 20-party’s hartal for Thursday.

A total of six platoons were deployed in the capital to avert sabotage.

At the same time, 71 platoons are kept ready for deployment, he added.

BGB headquarters’ public relations officer Muhammad Mohsin Reza confirmed the matter to banglanews.

On Tuesday, BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed, through a press statement, announced that the alliance-enforced hartal was extended till Thursday evening protesting the mass killing by joint forces, indiscriminate murder, kidnaps, attacks and mass arrest of 20-party alliance men.

The shutdown was also extended protesting attacks on journalists and repression on media, government’s interference on judiciary stem, false cases against BNP-led 20-party alliance leaders, including BNP chairperson and prominent citizens.

Meanwhile, a road-water-railway blockade for indefinite period has been underway since BNP enforced the blockade on January 5, protesting its chairperson Khaleda Zia’s confinement to her Gulshan office in the city.

BDST: 0824 HRS, FEB 05, 2015