Deadly clash kills 4 in Narsingdi

At least four people were killed and 50 others injured yesterday in a string of fierce clashes between the supporters of current and former union parishad chairmen over establishing supremacy in a remote char of Narsingdi's Raipura upazila.

Armed with crude bombs, spears and other lethal weapons, the feuding groups clashed several times since morning at Amirabad and Sonakandi villages in Nilokkha Union.

At least 10 houses were vandalised and six more torched in the two villages.

Law enforcers brought the situation under control last night. 

The dead were identified as Manik Mia, 40, and Shahjahan, 40 of Amirabad village, and Khokon, 35, and Rakib, 16, of Sonakandi village.

All four were known as supporters of former UP chairman Abdul Haque, according to locals.

However, it was still unclear how they were killed.

Of the injured villagers, three were brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with pellet wounds.

When police tried to disperse the supporters of the two groups, a tripartite clash ensued.

Some supporters of the two groups exploded crude bombs, leaving five policemen, including the OC of Raipur Police Station, wounded, according to police.

Azharul Islam Sarkar, 48, officer-in-charge of the police station, was whisked off to a local hospital. He was later shifted to the Square Hospital in the capital. The other four policemen were receiving treatment at Narsingdi Sadar Hospital.

Police and locals said that there had been a longstanding rivalry between Awami League-backed Nilokkha UP Chairman Tajul Islam and former chairman Abdul Haque, also a ruling party leader, over establishing supremacy in the union. Tension between the two rivals grew after the Union Parishad polls on April 19.

Since then, their supporters have clashed at least 10 times.

As a sequel to the longstanding conflict, the rival groups got locked into a clash on Saturday, said Mozzammel Haque, sub-inspector of Raipur Police Station.

He said the groups fought again on Sunday.

According to witnesses, Tajul's supporters attacked the houses of some followers of Abdul Haque on Sunday, and later clashed with their rivals. At least five people were injured in the incident.

Yesterday, several hundred supporters of both the groups, equipped with spears and other lethal weapons, started gathering at the two villages since morning. At one stage, they got locked into a fierce clash, said the witnesses.

As police swung into action around 11:00am and tried to bring the situation under control, a tripartite clash erupted, they added.

"The situation has been tense for the last two days, but the law enforcers didn't take effective measures to diffuse tension," said an inhabitant of Sonakandi village, seeking anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The injured villagers took treatment at different clinics.

A tense situation was prevailing at the villages with locals fearing further clash.

Narsingdi police formed a three-member probe committee, which will submit its report within three working days.

Contacted, Amena Begum, superintendent of police in the district, declined to comment on the incidents.

"Let's wait for the probe to end. Everything will come out through it," she said.