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US envoy’s motorcade comes under armed attack in Bangladeshi capital

Monday, 06 August 2018 5:31 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 06 August 2018 9:44 AM ]

Bangladeshi police stand guard during a student protest in Dhaka on August 5, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The motorcade carrying the US ambassador to Bangladesh has come under attack in the capital, Dhaka, which has been rocked by a wave of angry protests over road safety.

“A group of armed adult men, some on motorcycle” attacked the official US Embassy vehicle carrying Ambassador Marcia Bernicat in the Mohammadpur district of Dhaka, the American embassy in Bangladesh said in a statement published on Sunday.

Two vehicles sustained damage in the attack, but the ambassador as well as her security detail and drivers “departed the area unharmed,” the statement added.

Bernicat was leaving the home of Badiul Alam Majumder, a secretary of a local civil society advocacy group known as SHUJAN (Citizens for Good Governance), when the incident took place late Saturday at around 11:00 p.m. local time.

There is no information yet on the identity of the alleged attackers. Local police, however, have filed the incident.

The attack comes amid growing public dissatisfaction and ongoing mass protests in the predominantly Muslim country with a 163-million population.

PressTV-Over 110 student protesters injured in Bangladesh

For the last week, uniformed students have brought parts of the capital to a standstill with protest rallies.

For more than a week now, the Bangladeshi capital has been witnessing protests by youth demanding better road safety. The rallies broke out following the death of two teenagers who were mowed down by a speeding bus.

Thousands of students from various schools and colleges on Sunday started controlling traffic in Dhaka for the eighth consecutive day.

Bangladeshi police forces fired tear gas to disperse the students occupying an intersection in central Dhaka.

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