Two gunmen were detained today after three Molotov cocktails exploded at the venue of a major rally here ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's address to mark the first anniversary of last year's controversial polls.
The two people were escorted out of the venue at the Suhrawardy Udyan by security agencies after three Molotov cocktails exploded at the venue.
"The two were detained as they were carrying two pistols with 50 bullets," a report by the private 71 television channel quoted a security official as saying.
But police said the two were immediately taken to a nearby police station for initial interrogation and subsequent investigations.
The incident came shortly after three cocktails exploded at the scene as thousands of supporters of ruling Awami League thronged the venue amid a nationwide blockade enforced by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ex-premier Khaleda Zia.
The rally coincided with the first anniversary of Awami League's installation after the divisive January 5, 2014 polls boycotted by the BNP.
The rally was organised to mark the Home Coming Day of Bangladesh's founder and Hasina's father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from captivity in Pakistan in 1972.
"Adequate security arrangements are there, there is no reason to panic," a police spokesman earlier told newsmen ahead of the rally while the elite Special Security Force (SSF) enforced a tight vigil in an around the venue at central part of the capital.
Ahead of the rally, suspected opposition activists set on fire a bus at downtown Gulistan while two bomb-like substances were found inside law books kept at two courtrooms in the High Court late yesterday.
Hasina survived several attempts on her life with the most fatal being the August 21, 2004 grenade attack which she escaped narrowly sustaining permanent hearing impairment.
Twenty four people including the women front chief and former president Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman were killed in the attack which also crippled over 200 people.
