On 21st August 2004, state-sponsored terrorists carried out a gruesome grenade attack on a rally in front of the Awami League's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. Sheikh Hasina and top leaders of the Awami League narrowly escaped, but the splinters killed Ivy Rahman and 24 activists. The attack injured more than four hundred people. Many of them are permanently crippled while some lost their normal life. The party leaders saved Sheikh Hasina's life from the attack by creating a human shield. Her hearing was damaged even though she survived.