A man stabbed and injured a 17-month-old baby girl of his neighbour over a land-related dispute with her father in Nandail upazila yesterday.

The victim, Bithi, is a daughter of day labourer Deen Islam of Chandipasha village.

Quoting locals, Ataur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Nandail Police Station, said there had long been a conflict between Deen and his neighbour Md Shahjahan alias Puitya Shahjahan over a nine-decimal land.

Deen built a tin-shed house on the disputed land a couple of days ago, but Shahjahan and his men vandalised it.

When Deen went to rebuild the house there around 11:00am yesterday, Shahjahan and his men appeared there and got locked in an altercation with Deen, said the police official.

At one stage, Shahjahan and his followers attempted to attack Deen with sharp weapons, but he fled.

As the attackers did not find Deen, they entered his house and snatched his daughter Bithi from Sharifa Khatun, another neighbour of Deen, and took her outside the house.

Shahjahan then stabbed the girl in her abdomen, critically injuring her, said the OC, quoting the girl's mother, Beauty Begum.

Bithi was first taken to Nandail Upazila Health Complex and later shifted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

The knife pierced through the girl, said Moinuddin Khan, a doctor of the hospital.

The condition of Bithi is improving gradually, according to hospital sources.

Police visited the spot and were trying to arrest the attackers, the OC said.