Furious mob set fire to passenger train

after it ploughed into a political rally killing five and injuring 80

A furious mob set fire to a passenger train after it ploughed into a crowd killing five people and injuring more than 80.

The crowd was attending a political rally near a railway track in the northwestern Sirajganj district of Bangladesh when the accident happened.

Witnesses described how the Dinajpur to Dhaka intercity express was unable to stop, cannoning into the gathering and causing devastating injuries.

Carnage: The intercity express ploughed into a political rally at Sirajganj, in north-west Bangladesh, killing five people and injuring around 80 others

Passengers were forced to flee the train as it was pelted with stones with brickbats and then set on fire.

In the aftermath, the driver and guard were dragged from the engine cab and severely beaten, it is claimed.

They were taken to hospital in Tangail where they are reportedly critically injured.

The mob eventually dispersed when police and military personnel arrived at the scene and fired a series of warning shots.

Bangladesh's communication minister Syed Abul Hossain said that many more people could have died in the tragedy.

'You can understand, a train cannot be stopped quickly like a car or bus,' he said

Fury: The crowd reacted by hurling missiles, setting fire to the train and then severely beating the driver and guard who were taken to hospital

He blamed rally organiers, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), for holding the political rally at the location

'It is nothing but an attempt to create an anarchy the way they torched the train and critically injured the driver and the guard,' he said.

BNP leader Khaleda Zia had been due to address the rally when the crash occurred.

She claimed that the tragedy, which happened at around 3pm today, had been a deliberate attempt by the government to disrupt the gathering

'This was done in a planned way,' she said, urging her supporters to 'get prepared to oust the government.'

The accident has plunged the network into chaos with rail links severed between the north part of Bangladesh and Dhaka.