30 including 10 cops hurt in clash, top officials meet

The deputy commissioners (DCs) of the two districts, DIG and additional DIG of Chittagong region, police superintendents (SPs) and upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) attended the meeting, held on Friday night.

The meeting eased the tension in the area created after clashes over 'demarcation' of over one thousand acres of khas lands in Muhurir Char.

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Additional DIG Naim Ahmed told this correspondent Saturday evening that the meeting took some decisions to avert further violence and maintain law and order in the Muhurir Char project area.

The meeting decided to resolve the problem by conducting a proper demarcation by the settlement department, he said.

Additional police forces from Chittagong and Feni have been deployed there, he said.

Sources said the UNOs of Mirersarai and Sonagazi and the DCs of Chittagong and Feni will meet separately on Tuesday (August 19) and Wednesday (August 20) respectively.

On Friday night, more than150 armed people allegedly led by a UP chairman and a BNP leader of Sonagazi Upazila stormed into the project area and attacked the people there who hailed from Mirersarai, ensuing a clash.

The attackers torched at least 30 farmhouses, creating panic in the area. Police rushed to the spot only to face gunshots allegedly from the Sonagazi people, sources said.

However, police brought the situation under control.

At least 30 people including 10 cops were injured in the hour-long clash, police said.

Two cases were filed separately by Mirersarai and Sonagzai thana police under Speedy Trial Act, the Additional DIG also said.

Administration sources said the people of both upazilas have long been locked in a feud over demarcation of the vast khas lands that emerged from the Bay of Bengal.