Our correspondent in Gaibandha reports: Three motorcycle riders were killed and five pedestrians injured when a speedy truck ploughed into them on Gobindaganj-Ghoraghat highway yesterday evening.

Police said three young men on a motorcycle were coming from Ghoraghat when a goods-laden truck collided head-on with the motorcycle at Kata. The three died on the spot.

The dead were identified as Milon, 24, Babul, 26, and Malek, 22, of Ghoraghat in Dinajpur.

As the truck sped away after the accident, it hit five pedestrians. The injured were rushed to Ghoraghat Health Complex.

The police seized the truck, but the driver and helper of truck escaped.

Our correspondent in Mymensingh adds: Two people were killed when a speeding bus hit their motorcycle on Mymensingh-Dubaura road in Phulpur in the afternoon.

Monju, 35 and Badal, 38, were riding a motorcycle when the bus rammed it and ran over them at Sutarpara at around 4:00pm, the police said. They died on the spot.

In another road accident, a trolley driver was killed at Payari in Phulpur when his vehicle crashed into a roadside tree, police said.

The dead was identified as Sirajul Islam.

Police sent the bodies to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

A correspondent in Pabna reports: Two girls and a man were killed in separate road accidents in Pabna.

The victims were identified as Mithi, 4, daughter of Zaharul of village Nazirpur, Sadia, 5, daughter of Shafiqul Islam of village Kashipur, and Abu Hossain alias Abul Doctor, 45, of village Chinakhora.

Mithi along with her mother were travelling in a rickshaw in the morning when a human hauler 'Nasimon' hit their rickshaw at Tikori on Pabna-Pakshey highway, leaving the girl seriously injured. She died on the way to hospital.

Sadia died in a similar accident at Kashipur Bottola Mor.

In another accident, a Nasimon ran over Abul Hossain when he was crossing the road at Chinakhora. He died on the spot.

UNB adds: Three people were killed and 20 others injured in two accidents on Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Shibpur in Narsingdi in the morning.

Two of them were killed as a Bhairab-bound bus from Dhaka plunged into a roadside ditch at Hajibazar at about 7:30am, police and witnesses said. Twenty other passengers were also injured.

The dead were identified as Mamun, 20, and Jewel, 25.

Eight of the injured were sent to Dhaka in a critical condition.

In the other accident, a young woman, Piara Begum, 25, was crushed under the wheels of a speeding bus at Sristighar, 100 yards from Hajibazar, at about 8:00am.

Police sent the body to Sadar Hospital morgue. Separate cases were filed with Shibpur police.