Staff Reporter :
At least 20 people were injured in a factional clash between two groups of BNP over establishing local supremacy in Rangpur’s Badarganj upazila on Saturday.
The clash erupted around 11:00 AM in front of the Shaheed Minar in the upazila.
The identities of the injured individuals have not been revealed yet.
Confirming the incident, Badarganj Police Station officer-in-charge AKM Atiqur Rahman stated that the situation is now under control.
According to locals and police, Jahidul Islam rented a shop from Ishtiaq Babu at Badarganj bazar. There had been a dispute between Jahidul and Ishtiaq over the shop.
Jahidul got into an altercation with Ishtiaq after Ishtiaq asked him to vacate the shop before completing their agreement. On Wednesday evening, Ishtiaq and his cohorts vandalized the shop, looted its valuables, and assaulted Jahidul.
Later, two factions of BNP-one led by the upazila BNP joint general secretary and UP chairman Shahidul Haque Manik, who supported Jahidul, and the other led by upazila BNP senior joint convener Humayun Kovid Manik, who supported Ishtiaq-attacked each other with lethal weapons when Jahidul and his supporters formed a human chain in front of the Shaheed Minar. The confrontation left 20 individuals from both groups injured on the spot.
Locals rescued the injured and took them to a nearby hospital and Rangpur Medical College Hospital for treatment.
