At least 25 journalists of Daily Star rescued after more than 4 hours

At least 25 journalists of The Daily Star have been rescued from their office more than four hours after a mob swooped on the newspaper office in Dhaka’s Kawran Bazar.

The angry crowd descended on the English-language daily's office around 12am on Friday.

The first attack came on Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, where the crowd had gone chanting slogans against what they said "Indian aggression". The crowd vandalised the office before setting it on fire around 12am.

The rescue of The Daily Star journalists took place around 4am on Friday.

Attackers first vandalised the ground and first floors of the newspaper’s office before setting it on fire at about 12:30am. The blaze quickly engulfed two floors, sending a huge column of smoke into the air.

Its reporters told bdnews24.com that the fire service could not reach the building for some time because a crowd blocked their way.

“I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke. I am inside. You are killing me,” wrote Zyma Islam, a reporter of the paper trapped inside the building.

The entire night shift fled to the roof to save their lives, pleading for help through phone calls and social media posts.

Firefighters eventually reached the site and brought the fire under control at around 2am.

But the journalists could not be brought out immediately, reporters said, because the crowd stormed the building after the flames were extinguished.

The Army has been deployed in front of The Daily Star building.

Soldiers were later seen escorting the journalists out, along with New Age Editor Nurul Kabir, who had gone there to speak to the crowd but was himself assaulted.