They are yet to determine the identity of the suicide bomber(s) 48 hours into the blast that claimed eight lives and injured around 50.

The primary knee-jerk reaction of the state minister for home and the police authorities also weakened as a police constable, Humayun Kabir, now undergoing treatment at Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital (MMCH), said he saw a bicyclist with a carton entering the crowd after the first blast. About six yards away from the cyclist, Kabir asked him to stop, but he then quickly pulled a string from the carton, blowing off the bomb, the policeman said.

Meantime, Netrakona police yesterday detained the father and brother of Yadav in the name of their security.

Investigating officer Alauddin of Sadar Police Station told The Daily Star that they are now unsure about the identity of the bomber. "Observing the injuries Yadav received in the blast, we assumed him as the bomber," he said.

"Later, we took Yadav and Rais Uddin as bombers as the two had similar injuries," Alauddin said, adding, "But the bomb experts said several people were injured in the same way and that the injury could be the same for being close to the bomber.”

Barhatta police early yesterday asked Yadav's father Satyen Das and brother Biplab Das to come to the police station and took them into their custody, our Netrakona correspondent reports.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Barhatta Police Station Mostak Hossain told our correspondent that Satyen and Biplab were taken to safe custody "for the sake of their own security".

"A rumour in the locality that the lives of Yadav's family members are under threat prompted us to bring them to the police station," the OC told The Daily Star over phone last evening. "They willingly came to the police station," he said, adding that the two were sitting right in front of him but refused this correspondent talking to them.

Sources, however, said the two were detained for further quizzing.

IDENTITY OF THE DEAD
The police have so far identified seven of the eight persons who died in Thursday's suicide bomb attack. They are Khwaja Haidar, Jahanara, Yadav Das, Sudipta Pal Shelly, Aftab Uddin, Rais Uddin and Joynal.

Anjuman Mufidul Islam yesterday buried the body of the lone unidentified person at the district's government graveyard.

Meanwhile, the locals yesterday afternoon found a packet, which they feared might be a bomb, on the M Akhand Kamil Madrasa premises. Following the recovery, the police kept the madrasa administrative building cordoned.

However, experts later found the packet was filled with sand.

The 14-party alliance brought out a procession, led by Netrakona district Awami League (AL) President Shamsuzzoha and General Secretary Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, yesterday noon supporting today's hartal called in protest of Thursday's gruesome attack.

When the procession reached Machua Bazar, some 200 yards off the district AL office, hundreds of riot police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel barricaded the procession and charged baton on the activists.

The Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh brought out an anti-hartal procession yesterday evening.

Additional police and BDR were deployed in the town. Most shops have remained closed since the blast while panic-gripped people stayed indoors.

The funeral of Sudipta Paul Shelly was held at about 10:30pm last night. Hundreds of Hindus and Muslims attended the ceremony.

Our Mymensingh correspondent reports: A total of 29 persons, including five policemen, are undergoing treatment at MMCH.

Two constables Golam Kibria, 30, and Zinnat Ali, 40, and one Muklesur Rahman, 22, were admitted to MMCH yesterday.

Meanwhile, Islamil Hossain, 25, and Abdus Sattar, 40, who suffered severe eye injuries, were shifted to Dhaka, doctors at MMCH said.