At least 11 buses were set on fire at separate places in a series of arson attacks in the capital in about five hours starting from Thursday noon.

None was injured in the fire attacks, according to police and fire service officials.

Police claimed that they had already identified some of the attackers and detained 10 people at Paltan and Turag for their suspected involvement in the attacks.

The attacks were planned and well-organised, said police and also added that they assumed that the attacks were carried out to hinder Thursday’s Dhaka-18 by-elections, which the BNP rejected on allegations of ousting BNP agents from the polling centres and widespread rigging.

In the afternoon, police cordoned off the central office of BNP at Naya Paltan in the city, confining a number of its leaders and activists in the office building.

Besides, the suspects detained by Paltan police are leaders and activists of BNP and its front organisations, officials said.

A number of bus staff and witnesses said that they only saw fire but could not identify who and why the buses were torched.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a statement condemned the arson attacks and described the attacks on the day of polling as pre-planned and politically motivated.

He claimed that none of BNP or its front organisations was involved in the incidents.

Officials at Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Crime Command and Control Centre said that a government bus bearing the number Dhaka Metro Ja-11-0474, parked at the northern side of BNP central office, was the first vehicle that had been set on fire minutes after noon.

At about 1:00pm, a staff bus of Agrani Bank Limited bearing the number Dhaka Metro Ba-11-7515, parked in front of Madhumita cinema hall under Matijheel police station, was set on fire and another moving bus of Victor Classic Paribahan, bearing the number Dhaka Metro Ga-15-0589, was set on fire in front of Ramna Hotel on Bangabandhu Avenue at the capital’s Gulistan at about 1:30pm, they said.

They also added that a bus of Dewan Paribahan,  bearing the number Dhaka Metro Gha-13-15-72, was set on fire in front of Aziz Super Market under Shahbagh police station at 1:30pm, a bus of Rajanigandha Paribahan (Dhaka Metro Ba-12-0644) on the northern side of the secretariat on Topkhana Road at about 2:15pm, a Dishari Paribahan bus (Dhaka Metro Ba-11-9255) at Naya bazar area under Bangshal Police Station at about 2:30pm, a Jainapuri Paribahan bus (Chatta Metro Ja-11-0718) at Parkling area under Paltan Police Station at about 2:45pm, a BRTC double-decker bus (Dhaka Metro Ba-15-5001) parked near Pubali Filling Station under Matijheel police station at about 3:00pm and a Victor Classic Paribahan bus (Dhaka Metro Ba-15-5325) was set on fire at Coca Cola crossing under Vatara police station at about 4:30pm.

In the evening, a senior official of Crime Command and Control Centre told New Age that another bus of Prajapati Paribahan was set on fire on road at Airport roundabout at about 4:45pm and another belonging to Paristhan Paribahan in front of BGB market at the capital’s Azampur area at about 5:00pm.

The Crime Command and Control Centre officials said that a greater portion of all the buses were burnt.

Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters’ duty officer Rasel Shikder said that they doused the fires in eight buses and there was no casualty in the incidents.

Dewan Paribahan driver Md Raihan said, ‘I noticed through my looking glass that a seat at the back was on fire of my 40 seater at about 1:30pm when I reached Aziz Market. There were 12 or 13 passengers in my bus but I did not notice anyone seated near the fire.’

‘I made a loud cry and stopped the bus immediately and asked all to get down. The speed was not more than 15 kilometres per hour. The fire engulfed the bus within two minutes and we couldn’t do anything to save the bus,’ he said and added that he could not identify anyone who set fire to the seat.

He said that the market authorities began to throw water from the first floor and doused the fire. ‘But the bus was entirely damaged,’ he added.

At least two people who witnessed the Rajanigandha Paribahan bus burning on Topkhana Road said that the fire caught at the back of the bus and the passengers hurriedly got down from it.

They said that they did not notice how the bus caught fire.

The Metropolitan Police’s media and public relations division deputy commissioner Md Walid Hossain told New Age that they assumed that the arson attacks were carried out to hinder the Dhaka-18 by-elections by vested interested groups.

They had been collecting CCTV footage, taking information