A group of unidentified arsonists have attacked and injured a guard of an election campaign office of the Awami League in Khulna amid the BNP’s protests against the Jan 7 vote under a partisan government. 

They poured kerosene on the man,  42-year-old Hasan Farazi, and set him on fire when he was guarding the campaign office at ward No. 7 under Khan Jahan Ali Police Station area in the wee hours of Friday, police said. 

He was admitted to Khulna Medical College Hospital after the incident outside the campaign office of SM Kamal Hossain, the ruling party candidate for Khulna-3, said local police station chief Momtazul Haque. 

Locals rushed to the scene and put out the fire but Hasan suffered burn injuries “on his neck and hair”, said Sheikh Abid Hossain, president of Awami League’s Khan Jahan Ali Thana unit. 

The ruling party candidate blamed the BNP and its ally the Jamaat-e-Islami for the arson attack during his visit to the hospital. 

No case was filed and no arrest was made over the incident, Momtazul said.