Video shows petrol bomb attack on Shakib Al Hasan’s home after Hasina presser

The house of former Bangladesh cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan in Magura was attacked on Wednesday evening, hours after he appeared virtually at a media interaction addressed by ousted former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina from Delhi. The incident took place at around 8:45 pm local time at Shakib's ancestral residence in the Keshabmor area of Magura town. Police and local sources said unidentified people vandalised the house, threw bricks and stones and attempted to set it on fire. Local reports said a petrol bomb was hurled at the upper portion of the iron gate on the southern side of the property. Several windows were reportedly shattered during the attack, while no injuries were reported. Police personnel were deployed outside the residence following the incident. The attack came hours after Shakib, a former Awami League MP from the Magura-1 constituency, participated in a virtual media interaction organised by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia in New Delhi. During the interaction, Hasina defended her government's handling of the July-August 2024 unrest and said the student-led uprising that led to her ouster was a “meticulously designed” regime-change operation rather than a spontaneous protest. Hasina also said “organised groups” had hijacked the protests and turned them into “instruments of violent political agitation”. She claimed the movement was used to “create a path to power outside ballot box.” The Awami League alleged the attack was linked to Shakib's participation in the event, saying, “Torching residences : the cost of attending Awami League press conference. Neo fascism engulfs Bangladesh.” Police have not identified the attackers or established a motive. The investigation is expected to determine whether a petrol bomb was used and who was behind the assault.