A fourteen-year-old boy has sustained severe injuries in Shariatpur’s Zanjira upazila after a homemade explosive device, mistaken by a friend for a plaything, detonated unexpectedly on Tuesday morning.

The victim, identified as Md Kamrul, son of Rajjak Bepari, is a resident of Purbab Naodoba Union’s Phedulla Bepari Kandi village. The incident occurred around 11:00 am within the jurisdiction of the Padma Bridge South Police Station, leaving the local community in shock and raising grave concerns over unexploded devices in public spaces.

According to police accounts and local residents, seventeen-year-old Junayid Ahmed was walking to school when he spotted a round object wrapped tightly in red adhesive tape lying unattended by the roadside. Mistaking the item for a toy ball, Junayid picked it up. His classmate, Kamrul, noticed the object and approached him to inspect it. Intrigued yet cautious, the pair showed the tape-wrapped sphere to Junayid’s grandmother, Nasima Begum. Recognizing the immediate danger, she warned them that it was a crude improvised explosive device, commonly known locally as a cocktail.

Panicked by the revelation, Junayid dropped the device onto the ground. The sudden impact triggered a deafening explosion, striking Kamrul, who was standing nearby. The blast inflicted extensive injuries across several parts of his body.

Villagers rushed to the scene upon hearing the roar of the blast and transported the bleeding teenager to a nearby clinic. Following preliminary emergency treatment, doctors advised immediate transfer to a specialized facility in Dhaka owing to the severity of his condition.

Officers from the Padma Bridge South Police Station arrived shortly after receiving reports of the blast. During a search of the immediate surroundings, law enforcement officers recovered two additional live crude bombs lying exposed along the same roadside. Bomb disposal teams were alerted to sweep the area to ensure no further explosives remain hidden nearby.

Sub-Inspector Saiduzzaman of the Padma Bridge South Police Station confirmed that an investigation is underway to determine how the high-risk explosives ended up in a civilian area. Police are currently working to identify the individuals responsible for manufacturing and abandoning the devices, and formal legal proceedings regarding the incident are actively being processed.