Dhaka, March 7 (IANS) At least 16 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in a massive explosion at a building in Siddique Bazar, a crowded marketplace in Old Dhaka, at 4:50 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday, the fire service control room told IANS.

A doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) told IANS that the hospital needs blood to treat the injured persons.

"The blast took place in the seven-storey building adjacent to a five-storey apartment that houses a branch of BRAC Bank. Several bank officials were injured by flying glass shards," said Abdur Rahim, a spokesman for the bank.

The injured persons were rushed to DMCH, inspector Bacchu Mia of the DMCH police outpost told IANS.

The blast ripped through the seven-storey building, shattering the first two floors, besides damaging a passenger bus standing on the opposite side of the busy road.

The building houses several stores for sanitary products and household items. Eleven firefighting units are working on the spot to bring the situation under control.

The cause of the explosion could not be known immediately.

This was the third blast in a week to claim innocent lives after explosions at an oxygen plant in Sitakunda and at another building on Mirpur Road in Dhaka.

Dhaka, Feb 18 (IANS) The dismatled head of a sculpture of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, that was removed from the campus of Dhaka University, has been found by some passersby at the premises of the ongoing 'Amar Ekushe' Book Fair here, Shimul Kumbhkaar, leader of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Dhaka University, told IANS on Saturday.

On Thursday, Dhaka University (DU) authorities had reportedly removed the statue of Tagore, which the university students constructed next to the Raju Memorial sculpture. The students built the symbolic sculpture of Tagore on Tuesday to protest against the recent banning and censorship of books at the 'Amar Ekushe' Book Fair.

The sculpture featured a taped-up Tagore holding a book with a nail pierced through it. After the disappearance of the sculpture, aggrieved students put up a banner at the same spot that read "Rabindranath has disappeared" ('Gum Hoye Gachen Rabindranath').

"We still don't know who removed it. We will meet the Proctor and try to find out," Kumbhkaar told IANS.

DU Proctor A.K.M. Golam Rabbani, meanwhile, told IANS that the authorities are trying to find out who put up the sculpture on the university campus. He also claimed that the beauty of the existing Raju Memorial sculpture was destroyed by some people.

"The university has a policy of placing sculptures on the campus. The sculpture (of Tagore) was placed without informing the university administration. Therefore, the administration removed it," Rabbani said.

The students claimed that they put up the sculpture as a symbol of protest against the lack of freedom of speech and expression in Bangladesh.