Bangladesh: 24 burnt alive as mob sets afire hotel owned by Awami League politician

At least 24 people, including an Indonesian national, were burnt alive by a mob in Bangladeshat a starred hotel owned by a leader of Awami League party after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country, local journalists and hospital sources said on Tuesday.

The victims, mostly boarders, were burnt alive late on Monday night as the mob set afire the Zabir International Hotelowned by district Awami League general secretary Shahin Chakkladar in Joshor district.

“The dead included an Indonesian national,” a local journalist told PTI from Dhaka over the phone.

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He added that the doctors at Joshor General Hospital confirmed they counted 24 bodies, while surviving hotel staff feared more bodies could be found inside the debris.

Media reports suggested that an unidentified mob, opposed to the Awami League (AL) regime, set the ground floor of the hotel ablaze, and the fire quickly spread to the upper floors.

There were almost identical reports from across the country where the angry mob simultaneously vandalised residences and business establishments of Awami League leaders and activists, including its central office in Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.

Bangladesh descended into chaos on Monday after Hasina resigned, surreptitiously fled the country, and landed in India while the army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.

As the news of Hasina's departure spread, Dhaka and other parts of the country saw fresh round of violence in the already battered South Asian nation, with mobs resorting to street violence, vandalising government property, and even breaking into Hasina's government residence and looting the interiors.

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