At least six people were killed in Chittagong, Niphamari and Rangpur as activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir clashed with police across the country on Saturday.
Jamaat-Shibir men also fought running battles with police in Dhaka, Sylhet, Comilla, Rajshahi, Narayanganj, Jhenidah. They also blocked Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Siddhirganj.
Miscreants attacked the Silk City express train at Rajshahi railway station and set fire to six of its carriages at around 9:00pm.
A former leader of Chhatra League was hacked to death by suspected Shibir men at Akhalia Ghat in Sylhet town.
Besides, violent clashes erupted in Keranihat of Satkania in Chittagong when police tried to remove barricades set up by Jamaat men on Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway. The clashes left three people, including a teenager, dead.
Two of the deceased were identified as Abu Taher, 28, a resident of Demsha area, and Mohammad Shahidullah, 23, a resident of Azimpur area of Satkania. The identity of the teenage boy could not be ascertained.
The latest deaths took to 53 the total death figure in violence in three days after International Crimes Tribunal 1 had sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami’s nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death on Thursday.
Jamaat’s Chittagong south unit amir Zafar Sadek claimed all the three were Shibir activists and the name of the teenage boy was Osman Gani.
The police and witnesses said the clashes had erupted in Hashmater Dokan area at about 10:30pm when the law enforcers were trying to remove barricades put by the Jamaat-Shibir men on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway.
Iltutmish, additional superintendent of police, said the Jamaat-Shibir men had opened fire on the law enforcers forcing them to retreat, adding that two people had been killed in the incident.
Shibir men also clashed with police at Banshkhali in Chittagong. Banskhali police said that the Jamaat-Shibir men had brought out a sudden procession at around noon at Napora and vandalied several shops and business enterprises. They also damaged a bailey bridge in the area.
Iltutmish said that the Banshkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer had also sustained injuries during the clashes.
The Jamaat-Shibir men set a covered van and a truck on fire apart from vandalising several other vehicles on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Mirsharai and Sitakunda.
Mirsharai police officer-in-charge Iftekhar Hasan said the Jamaat-Shibir men had brought out a sudden procession at Badamtoli on the highway at about 7:00am and vandalised a number of vehicles.
Sitakunda police officer-in-charge Samiul Islam said the Jamaat-Shibir men had set a truck and a covered van on fire at Battal at about 11:00pm on Friday.
Mohammed Shahidullah, additional deputy commissioner of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said Jamat-Shibir men had vendalised three vehicles at Chandgaon at about 1:30pm.
In Nilpjhamari, Shibir activist Atiqur Rahman (18), of Tengonmari village in Jaldhaka, died and 20 others, including several police and BGB personnel, were injured as Jamaat-Shibir men clashed with law enforcers at Razarbazar of Jaldhaka in the afternoon.
Locals and Jaldhaka police said Jamaat-Shibir activists had attacked BGB personnel when they stopped their procession at around 2:00pm forcing the paramilitary to open fire that left Atiq dead on the spot.
Moksed Ali, inspector (investigation) of Jaldhaka police, confirmed that Atik was a Shibir activist.
The administration clamped section 144 throughout Jaldhaka town for an indefinite period, he said.
In Rangpur, Akmal Hossain, who suffered bullet wounds during clashes between police and Jamaat-Shibir at Pirgachha on Thursday, died at Rangpur Medical College and Hospital around noon on Saturday.
Video: Bangladesh Police shoot Shibir worker in the head and horribly beaten
Meanwhile, a constable of Pirgachha police, Mozahar Hossain, who was undergoing treatment in the same hospital, was air-lifted to Dhaka as his condition deteriorated.
Jamaat men also unleashed terror in the capital city, torching and vandalising vehicles and business establishments and blasting cocktails in the afternoon.
Opposition activists also clashed with police in the city’s Satrasta, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Mouchak, Shantinagar, Baily Road, Paltan, Kakrail and Dhanmondi.
The police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the agitators.
Panic gripped the city dwellers following the clashes.
In Sylhet, a former leader of Chhatra League was hacked to death and another injured when Shibir men attacked them at Akhalia Ghat on Saturday evening.
Gausul Alam, officer-in-charge of Jalalabad police station said that Jamaat and Shibir men might have killed Jagat Joyti Talukdar, 35, former joint secretary of Sylhet district unit of BCL. The injured was identified as Jewel Ahmed, 34, a local Awami League leader.
Jagat succumbed to his injuries at Osmani Medical College Hospital at 10:00pm.
The correspondent in Narayanganj said Shibir activists had damaged five vehicles blocking Dhaka-Chittagong highway and clashed with the police at Madani Nagar of Siddhirganj in the evening. Traffic remained suspended for about an hour causing tailback.
Siddhirganj police officer-in-charge Abdul Matin said they had fired 20 rounds of bullet to disperse the mob and arrested seven Shibir men.
Jamaat-Shibir activists unleashed a reign of terror in Sylhet vandalising at least 150 business establishments, including seven public and private banks, and more than 50 vehicles in the afternoon.
They also set some 15 motorcycles on fire and attacked four photojournalists as they tried to take snaps during the vandalism.
Witnesses said around 300 Jamaat-Shibir men, most of them brandishing guns and sharp weapons, brought out a procession from in front of the Shahjalal shrine entrance at around 3:00pm and started marching towards Ambarkhana in the city.
On their way, they set some 10 motorcycles of a showroom of Bashundhara Motors Limited on fire. The Jamaat-Shibir men also set five more motorcycles parked in front of the showroom on fire.
Brutal action by Jamat-Shibir activist from Mukti Juddha on Vimeo.
At Ambarkhana crossing, they divided into two groups and launched attacks on local branches of state-owned Janata, Sonali and Agrani banks and privately- owned Pubali Bank Limited, Dutch-Bangla Bank, First Security Bank and Al-Arafa Bank and vandalised the institutions, witnesses said.
They also vandalised offices of several insurance companies including Jiban Bima Corporation, Delta Life Insurance and Fareast Life Insurance and several shops.
On-duty photojournalists Nazmu Kabir Pavel of Bangladesh Pratidin, Humayun Kabir of daily Jalalabad, FA Munna of Ekushey television and Deepu of Islamic TV also came under attack while taking snaps.
Jamaat leader Sirajul Islam Shahin, Fakhrul Islam, Ziauddin Nader and Shibir leader Anwarul Odud Tipu and Saiful Islam were seen leading the attackers.
No law enforcers were seen on the spots during the violence. Separate teams of police and BGB reached the spots about 15 minutes after the attackers left.
The correspondent in Comilla reported that Jamaat-Shibir activists had vandalised several business establishments, vehicles and the automated teller machine booth of Pubali Bank at Kandirpar.
The Shibir men also vandalised Midland Hospital on Laksham road, and a filling station at Thompson Bridge and the house of Comilla town unit Chhatra Leageue president Saiful Islam.
Six Awami League activists, including the union AL vice-president, were injured when the Jamaat-Shibir men swooped on them at village Chorkole in Jhenaidah sadar upazila, reports the correspondent in Jhenidah.
The attackers also set seven houses of the ruling party supporters on
fire. The injured were rushed to Jhenaidah general hospital. They are Abdul Aziz, Golam Sarwar Bakul, Mizanur Rahman, Mohammad Shanto, Rubel and another person, the police said.
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