Bangladesh police said that at least four passengers were killed in an intentional fire on a train and dozens others were injured today, Friday, in Dhaka, ahead of the general elections there, scheduled for the weekend, which are boycotted by a major opposition party.

Khondaker, appointed from a unit belonging to the Rapid Action Battalion of the police at the scene, said firefighters retrieved the charred bodies of passengers from inside the burning carriages on the Benapol Express train.

The officer stated that passengers noticed the fire minutes before the train slowed down on its way to Dhaka, approaching its final destination coming from the town of Benapol in the southwest of the country.

He added that local residents initially tried to extinguish the fire when the train stopped at the Joydepur crossing in the capital, Dhaka.

He later pointed out that seven fire trucks joined the efforts to extinguish the fire, and the firefighting process took about two hours, adding that the flames completely consumed four carriages of the train.

Mohyiuddin, Deputy Police of the Dhaka capital, described the incident as a planned sabotage act to create panic among citizens before the elections.

Mohyiuddin said: "We will definitely reach the perpetrators involved in such heinous attacks."

Shakeeb Ali, who was among the train passengers, told local Channel 24 that he jumped out of the window when he saw his carriage on fire and survived unharmed.

The incident occurred less than 12 hours before a nationwide 48-hour general strike called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which represents the main opposition in Bangladesh, starting tomorrow, Saturday. It is noteworthy that the party is boycotting the parliamentary elections to be held on Sunday.

The nationalist party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, called for the strike to press for confirmation of their demand for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the formation of a non-partisan interim government to ensure credible elections.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its right-wing allies are boycotting the elections fearing they may be rigged, and they have organized phased strikes and transportation shutdowns to press for their demands.

On December 19, four passengers were killed in another train fire, which investigators described as sabotage in Dhaka. Another passenger was killed and several others were injured after seven train carriages derailed when suspected saboteurs destroyed railway lines in Gazipur near Dhaka on December 13.