20 injured as Magura AL factions clash

21 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Magura

At least 20 people were injured, 11 seriously, in a clash between two groups of the governing Awami League at a village in Magura yesterday. Ten houses were ransacked during the clash that lasted for about an hour at the village of Gajdurba in Shalikha upazila. Police and locals said a longstanding rivalry had been prevailing between the factions over forming the party's union unit committee and establishing supremacy in the area. The groups -- one led by Moshiur Rahman, former district unit president of the Jubo League and a resident of the village, and the other by Abdur Rajjak Molla, the union unit organising secretary of the AL, -- armed with lethal weapons got into a clash around 10:00am following an altercation over a trifling matter. At one stage, both the groups swooped on their rivals' houses. On information, police rushed in and brought the situation under control. They arrested seven people from the spot. The seriously injured -- Abu Hasan, 20, Islam Sheikh, 32, Pakhi Begum, 30, Babul Molla, 40, Sonaulla, 40, Ramjan Ali, 45, Makhon Molla, 27, Nantu Molla, 40, Zakir Hossain, 45, Majeda Begum, 30 and Kamal, 32 --- were admitted to Magura Sadar Hospital while others received treatment from different private clinics.