Molla Jalauddin Ahmed was outside the store, Sattar Pharamacy, when the incident occurred in presence of patrol police deployed to guard the BNP office. Police recovered splinters of the bomb from the spot.

Molla Jalal, also senior vice president of Khulna unit of Bangladesh Chemists and Druggists Asso-ciation, told newsmen that the bomb was thrown to kill him and that his political opponents might have a hand in this.

Leaders of Khulna Awami League including former state minister Talukder Abdul Khaleque, MP, have condemned the bomb attack.

Khulna unit of Bangladesh Chemists and Druggists Association brought out a procession in the city yesterday protesting the 'attempt on the life' of the Khulna AL leader.

A general diary has been filed with Khulna Police Station.

The bomb attack is the latest in a spate of such attacks on political leaders of Khulna this year.

On March 5, an unknown attacker hurled a handmade bomb at the car of Awami League legislator Talukder Abdul Khaleque at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital in Dhaka.

On March 4, Khulna city Mayor Shaikh Tayebur Rahman escaped narrowly when a hand grenade thrown at his car in an assassination bid did not explode in the port city.

Moulana Gazi Abu Bakar Siddiqui, nayeb-e-amir of the ruling coalition ally Jamaat-e-Islami's local chapter, died in a bomb attack on Khulna-Mongla Highway near his home village of Solakurha region on March 4.

A bomb explosion killed two youths and injured one at Giletala Madhyapara in Khulna on February 25.

Last year, Manjurul Imam, president of Khulna city Awami League, was killed in a bomb attack on August 25.

On January 15, journalist Manik Chandra Saha died in a bomb attack near Khulna Press Club.