According to police, unknown arsonists set fire to at least five elementary schools, including four polling stations.

On the eve of Sunday, polling stations in Bangladesh were set on fire general elections, Hours after four people were killed in a suspected arson attack on a local train.

This came as Bangladesh’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, launched a 48-hour general strike on Saturday, calling on people to boycott the vote, alleging that incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government could not guarantee its fairness.

Police said on Saturday that unknown arsonists set fire to at least five elementary schools, including four polling stations.

They were investigating fires in Gazipur, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, that were allegedly set in the middle of the night by people seeking to disrupt elections that the main opposition party has pledged to boycott.

“We have intensified patrols and remain on high alert,” said Gazipur police chief Kazi Shafiqul Alam.

The electoral commission has asked authorities to increase security around polling stations.

According to police, arsonists also attacked polling stations in the northeastern districts of Moulvibazar and Habiganj. Similar incidents have also been reported elsewhere in the past two days.

Police in the coastal district of Khulna arrested two people on Thursday evening who were accused of trying to set fire to a school used as a polling station. The following day, another attempt to set fire to a nearby elementary school was averted, said Saidur Rahman, the district’s police chief.

The Khaleda Zia-led BNP and numerous other opposition parties have done this boycotted the electionsThey said they aimed to consolidate Prime Minister Hasina’s rule.

The 76-year-old Hasina is guaranteed a fourth consecutive term in office in Sunday’s vote, which observers criticized as one-sided.

On Saturday morning, a small group of BNP supporters marched through Dhaka’s Shahbagh district, calling on people to join the strike. Another rally of about 200 left-wing protesters took place outside the National Press Club to denounce the election.

“The government is playing with fire again. “The government has resorted to its old tactic of holding unilateral elections,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP official.

Deadly train fire

Meanwhile, police arrested seven opposition party members accused of an alleged arson attack on a local train ahead of Friday’s election four people were killed.

Nabiullah Nabi, a senior BNP official, and six other party activists were among those arrested in the capital early Saturday.

“Nabi financed and planned the attack,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP by telephone.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the timing of the incident showed the “absolute intent to hinder the celebrations, security and protection of the country’s democratic processes.”

“This reprehensible incident, undoubtedly orchestrated by individuals with malicious intent, strikes at the core of our democratic values,” he added in a statement.

However, BNP spokesman AKM Wahiduzzaman told AFP that the attacks were pre-planned “acts of sabotage” by the ruling government aimed at “discrediting the non-violent movement of the BNP.”

He said the government wanted to “divert people’s attention from the sham election.”

According to authorities, eight people were critically injured in the fire on the train.

“All eight, including two children, have burns in their airways,” said Dr. Samanta Lal Sen from a government specialized burns hospital in the capital. “We are watching them closely,” he told reporters.