At least 50 houses and shops were damaged and three cows were killed in a explosion during the deactivation of a mortar shell recovered from underground at Gazaria upazila in Munshiganj district on Tuesday.

The incident occured at Aralia village under Baluakandi union of the upazila.

According to Gazaria Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Anwar Alam Azad, at around 8:30 PM, members of the army’s bomb disposal unit were in process of deactivating the mortar shell by detonating it, which caused the explosion to spread within a 200-meter radius. The shrapnel from the mortar shell damaged houses, shops and livestock.

Following the incident, panic spread in the area and agitated locals surrounded the bomb disposal team.

Later, police intervened and rescued them.

As of the latest reports, the explosion blew away roofs and damaged TVs, refrigerators and other household items.

Senior administrative officials, including the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), are currently at the scene.

Witness tea shop owner Abdur Rashid said, “The mortar shell was deactivated by detonating it. The intensity of the explosion was so strong that almost everything in my shop, which is about 300 meters away, was blown away.”

Tania Akter, a resident of Baluakandi village located four kilometers from the scene, said, “At exactly 7:56 PM on Tuesday evening, we felt a strong jolt. At first, we thought it was an earthquake, but later learned that it was explosion from the mortar shell in Aralia village.”

Following the incident, both police and journalists faced public outrage. Some locals even physically assaulted media personnel.

It’s worth noting that on Monday morning (April 28), a mortar shell was discovered while digging a trench next to a mosque in a farmland of a man named Hanif in Aralia village. Locals initially mistook it for a boundary pillar, but police later confirmed it to be an unexploded mortar shell. The army’s bomb disposal unit was then called in to deactivate it on Tuesday.