[Dhaka Tribune] Three people including two children were maimed in a kaboom in the capital's Lalbagh area yesterday, while the police also recovered a huge quantity of gunpowder and 130 crude bombs from a mess belonging to Shibir cadres in Mohakhali.The bomb went
kaboom!at around 3pm on the second floor of a house in Dhakeswari Road, injuring three people: Mahbubur Rahman Bappi,
You betcher sweet Bappi...
25, his niece Happy Akther Sumi, 14, and a former neighbour Samaran Ahmed Ripon, 6.
All three are now undergoing treatment at the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Sumi, an eighth grader of Azimpur Girls High School, said she was watching television after lunch when her uncle Bappi was doing something while sitting on the floor.
"Suddenly I heard a big bang and the entire room was engulfed in smoke and seconds after that another sound of kaboom came from the room and I cannot remember anything after that."
Bappi's right wrist was blown off in the kaboom while Sumi and Ripon received injuries in their eyes.
Sumi's mother Jhumur said she was cooking in the kitchen when she heard the sound. She, however, did not make any comment on her brother Bappi's involvement in bomb making.
Lipi Akhter, mother of Ripon, said they live in the city's Elephant Road and her husband Nizamuddin Bacchu has a pet shop at Kataban.
She said her family used to live in Lalbagh a couple of months back when they met Jhumur's family.
"Yesterday around 12pm Sumi came to our flat after her coaching classes and wanted to take Ripon with her to their flat. Although I refused, Ripon began to cry and insisted on going with Sumi and I let him go,"
Lipi said she later came to know that her son had been admitted to the DMCH. Visiting the site of the kaboom, this correspondent found that the two-room flat was left in ruins with the glass-windows broken and the steel door twisted. The entire flat smelled of gunpowder.
Sufia Begum, owner of the house, said Jhumur and her husband Abdul Hakim had rented the flat just a month ago for Tk8,000 and they paid Tk20,000 in advance.
"We have often visited their flat but never found anything suspicious," Sufia said.
She added that Jhumur claimed that her husband was a private car driver and that four members used to live in the flat: Bappi, Jhumur, Sumi and Hakim.
"I often found Hakim out of the house at 7pm and he came back about 11pm.
"Yesterday, when we had just had our lunch, I heard a sound of kaboom and I found Bappi in an unconscious state with his wrist blown off in the blast."
Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Lalbagh Division of police, said Bappi is a well known bomb maker in the capital's Nilkhet and Kataban area and better known as Boma Bappi.
"Inspecting the spot, we have come to know that the kaboom happened while making bombs and we have detained a total of 10 persons for interrogation," he says.
A case will be filed shortly in connection with the incident.
A source in the police and locals of Kataban area said Bappi is a secretary of Chhatra Dal of New Market thana unit.
When Jhumur's family had been living in Kataban slum a few months back, local residents reportedly forced Bappi to leave the place as they came to know that he was a bomb maker.