At least seven people, including a police officer, were injured in a factional clash between two groups of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) over establishing supremacy at sadar upazila in Jhenaidah on Sunday.
The identities of the injured could not be known immediately, the police officials said.
Quoting local people, Jhenaidah police station officer-in-charge Abdullah Al Mamun said that the incident occurred around 5:00pm at Kallyanpur Bazar when supporters of senior union BNP vice-president Nazrul Islam and union BNP general secretary Siraj Biswas engaged in an altercation.
A police vehicle was also vandalized in the confrontation.
While returning home from a BNP meeting in the district town, Siraj Biswas’s supporters Golam Faruk and Rokibul Islam were pursued by Nazrul Islam’s supporters upon reaching Haranghat village. They sought refuge in a house and called the Narkelbaria police camp for assistance.
Police arrived to rescue them, but the attackers assaulted the police vehicle and seriously injured Golam Faruk and Rokibul Islam. One police officer was also hurt in the incident, the police official said.
Additional police were deployed to control the situation, while operations are ongoing to apprehend the perpetrators.
Siraj Biswas claimed that the attack was unprovoked, alleging that Nazrul Islam’s faction has a history of criminal activities during the Awami League government and continues to terrorize local BNP leaders.
Nazrul Islam, however, denied involvement, saying he was unaware of the attack and that local BNP leaders had already mediated earlier disputes.
HKJ
