AL activist killed in factional clash in Rangpur

An Awami League activist was beaten to death allegedly by supporters of another faction of the party in Kaunia upazila of Rangpur.

The deceased Sona Mia, 55, of Najirdah village under Haragach municipality, was a member of the AL's Kaunia upazila unit.

The incident took place in front of Khansama Imamganj School around 8:30pm on Monday, reports our Dinajpur correspondent.

According to sources, Kaunia upazila unit AL organised an event at the school grounds, which Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi was supposed to attend to exchange Eid greetings.

Ahead of the programme, the victim, Sona Mia, his brother, Mukul Mia, and other AL activists started chanting slogans hailing Tipu Munshi, also the local lawmaker.

But another faction of the AL unit protested and tried to stop other local leaders and activists from joining the chanting.

Over this issue, an altercation broke out between the leaders and activists of the two AL factions.

Meanwhile, after hearing of the altercation, Tipu Munshi skipped the programme.

Around 8:30pm, Sona Mia was ambushed by his rivals and was beaten indiscriminately, leaving him dead on the spot, said his nephew Alamgir Hossain.

The attackers used sticks and rods on Sona Mia, he added.

Police recovered the body and sent it to Rangpur Medical College Hospital for autopsy, said Montasir Billah, officer-in-charge of Kaunia Police Station.

"We also detained a man for interrogation," the OC added.

Primarily, police suspected that the incident happened over the dispute over slogans.

However, our local correspondent tried to reach a number of leaders of the upazila AL unit but failed to reach any of them.

No case was filed till the filing of the report around 2:30pm on Tuesday.