Sylhet bomb blast

The first question is what manner of bomb was it that exploded. It has been reported that the explosive device was 9.5 kg in weight and that the bomb blast left a two-foot deep crater. The explosion -- which also severely injured seven others -- blasted some of the victims' body parts yards away and thus the bomb in question seems to have been quite powerful.

The public needs to know how such a deadly device could end up in the hands of an ordinary citizen, and whether, as has been suggested by the DIG of police, the individual concerned has any record of involvement with explosives. Can the authorities confirm if this is the case?

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It has been reported that the bomb was initially picked up from the firing range of the Jalalabad cantonment by a group of teenagers who sold it as scrap metal. Can the authorities confirm that the cantonment was indeed the source of the bomb? If not, then where did such a deadly device originate?

If the bomb did indeed come from the cantonment, this too raises a host of questions. If the bomb was the unexploded residue of some military drill or target practice, how is it that it was apparently allowed to be scavenged for scrap metal? The army theoretically has very strict accounting procedures for arms and ammunition, with every bullet being fired needing to be accounted for, and any unexploded device should not have been permitted to fall into the hands of civilians.

If this was indeed the source of the bomb, then it raises difficult questions as to what kind of other gaps exist in the army's accounting practices for arms and ammunition and whether other devices could similarly have been pilfered or gone missing.

It is still unconfirmed that the bomb did indeed come from the cantonment, as has been reported. The first step is for the authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter and then to inform the public of the provenance of the explosive device. This troubling incident raises many questions. It is time the authorities began providing us with answers.