9 ruling party men among 14 hurt in Satkhira clash

Of the injured, nine were cadres of Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal, youth and student wings of the ruling BNP who were hired for the clash while five others were innocent villagers.

The injured Jubodal and Chhatra Dal leaders were Shamim, 28, Nansa, 25, Boby, 26, Badrul, Zia, Bappi, Akbar, Shahin and Shahid while the injured villagers were Alhaj Mozammel Hq, 45, Sirajul Islam, Shahanara Khatun and two other unidentified villagers.

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Of the injured Nansa and Boby were taken to Khulna 250- bed Hospital as their condition deteriorated. Other injured were treated at Satkhira hospital.

Police quoting local people said, there was a longstanding dispute over installation of shallow tube-well on a crop land between Mahiuddin Master and Jahangir Hossain of Komorpur village.

Mahiuddin Master with the help of his relative Obaidullah, a BNP leader and Chandu of old Satkhira hired about 60 cadres of Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal to threaten Jahangir.

All of them led by Obaialullah and Chandu went to the village by two microbuses and 22 motorbikes at noon and attacked the villagers. The villagers including men and women armed with lethal weapons retaliated the attackers. They beat up and chased the attackers injuring at least nine of them, while five of their side including a woman were injured. The villagers also damaged eight motorbikes of their rivals.

Police rushed to the spot after being informed and brought the situation under control. On contact, the Officer-in-Charge of Sadar thana Abdul Kadar Beg told this correspondent that he was not aware about the dispute earlier.