At least two people, including an imam of a mosque, were killed and 50 others were injured in a clash between followers of the local Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker and BNP’s rebel candidate in the village Goalnagar under Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district on Tuesday.
Supporters of BNP leader and Brahmanbaria-1 lawmaker MA Hannan are led in the village by Rahim Mia, while supporters of the party’s rebel candidate in the last national election, Kamruzzaman Mamun, are led by Kashem Hossain, locals said.
The deceased are Habib Ullah, 40, an imam of a local mosque, and Akter Miah, 55, of the village. Habib belonged to the Kashem group and Akter to the Rahim group, the police and locals said.
Goalnagar union council member for ward no 6 Kala Mia said that Habib and Akter died on the spot.
‘The clash began at about 10:00am and continued until 2:00pm. Both groups, armed with locally made sharp weapons, swooped on each other,’ he said, adding that about 50 people of both groups were injured in the clash.
Local people said that the dispute began over the 13th parliamentary polls held on February 12, in which the BNP won the seat.
Nasirnagar police station officer-in-charge Mohammad Shahinul Islam said that two people were killed and dozens were injured in the clash that continued for more than four hours since 10:00am.
He said that they recovered the bodies and would send them to Brahmanbaria Sadar hospital for post-mortem examination.
OC Shahinul said that no case was filed and no one was arrested in connection with the incident until 9:30pm.
Nasirnagar Upazila Health Complex resident medical officer Shafiqul Islam said that they sent two people to Dhaka in a critical condition.
Assistant superintendent of police for Sarail circle Md Jahangir Alam said in the evening that the situation in the area was under control.
Neither Rahim nor Kashem could be reached for comments as their mobile phones were found switched off.
BNP’s rebel candidate Kamruzzaman alleged that the Rahim group organised a huge gathering on Monday night where local lawmaker Hannan was present.
‘The planning of the attack was made in the gathering,’ he alleged.
Lawmaker MA Hannan could not be reached over the phone for comments Tuesday evening as his phone was switched off.
