DHAKA (TIP): Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia was on February 4 charged by the police with ‘instigation’ of the fire-bombing of a bus that left 7 people dead amid escalating political crisis in the country that has claimed 60 lives within a month.

At least seven passengers, including two women, were charred to death on Tuesday when suspected opposition activists hurled petrol bombs on a packed bus in eastern Bangladesh, the worst attack during the current spate of political unrest.

“She has been named as an instigator of the attack,” district police chief Tutul Chakrabarty said.

Former Comilla MP and central Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher has been also accused in the case, Charkavarty was quoted as saying. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Zia has already been named as the instigator in two incidents of arsons, including the one at Dhaka’s Jatrabarhi, which left one dead and 30 others injured. A total of 56 BNP and Jamaat activist have been accused in both cases.