113 Hezbut men held after Monday's clash in Noakhali

Law enforcers arrested at least 113 supporters of Hezbut Tawheed following Monday's clash between Hezbut men and the villagers of Porkara in Sonaimuri upazila of the district that killed three people.

The arrestees were produced in a court that sent them to jail, said police.

Two cases were filed in connection with the incident, said Kazi Haniful Islam, officer-in-charge of Sonaimuri Police Station.

Two alleged members of Hezbut Tawheed and a local were killed and 150 others, including several policemen, injured in a clash between villagers and the Hezbut men over building a mosque for the Islamist group in Sonaimuri upazila on Monday morning.

The deceased are Hezbut activists Ibrahim Khan Rubel, 27, son of Nurul Haque, and Mohammad Solaiman, 24, of the village, and Mujibul Haque Mujib, 50, of Khodkhasta village in the upazila.

Mujib was shot dead, while stab marks were found on the bodies of the two other deceased, said police.

Superintendent of Police Elias Sharif said there had been a longstanding conflict between the Hezbut members and the villagers of Pourkara as they believed that the Hezbut men, followers of its founder Bayezid Khan Panni, was "propagating against Islam".

On February 24, the Hezbut men held a public meeting near Chashirhat Union Parishad and made some "derogatory comments about Islam", which angered the villagers, said police.

Around 11:00am on Monday, when the Hezbut activists had gathered at Pourkara to resume the construction work of the mosque, which was abandoned several years ago following protests by locals, the villagers rushed to the spot and asked them to stop their work. This triggered an altercation between the Hezbut men and the locals.

At one stage, locals, equipped with rods and sticks, swooped on the Hezbut men and a fierce fight took place between the two sides.