With the national election only eight days away, electoral violence have been continuing unabated across the country.

Two more BNP candidates came under attack and at least five campaign offices of ruling Awami League nominees were vandalised in different districts since Wednesday evening.

BNP candidate for Netrakona-1, Kayser Kamal, and his supporters came under attack allegedly from AL men in Kalmakanda upazila around 12:30pm yesterday.

Witnesses said a group of people swooped on the BNP men when they were going to the assistant returning officer's (ARO) office to lodge complaints over creating obstacles to campaigning.

Blaming the AL men for the attack, Kamal and his supporters held a sit-in in front of the ARO's office for around three hours from 1:00pm. They demanded legal action against the attackers.

Zakir Hossain, upazila nirbahi officer of Kalmakanda and also the ARO, said he asked the police to look into the matter.

However, Kalmakanda OC Mazharul Karim claimed no such attack took place.

In Barishal, Jatiya Oikyafront candidate (Barishal-4) KM Nurur Rahman Jahangir and his supporters were attacked allegedly by AL men during campaigning in Patharhat Bandar of Mehendiganj upazila on Wednesday evening.

However, his rival AL candidate Pankaj Nath said the incident might have taken place due to the BNP's internal feud.

Barishal Returning Officer SM Ajior Rahman said they received a complaint in this regard and that they would investigate it.

Mehendiganj OC Shahin Khan said police rushed to the spot and calmed the situation.

In Bogura, at least four people sustained bullet injuries as police opened fire to quell a clash between AL and BNP supporters in Sonatala's Pakulla area yesterday.

The clash began when the two groups of people came close to each other during campaigning for their respective party candidates, said witnesses and locals.

Police said they rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

In Natore, two local BNP leaders were beaten up allegedly by AL men in Dighapatia area in the morning.

Besides, a local AL leader filed a case accusing 350 BNP men and around 130 unnamed people of setting fire to a campaign office of the AL.

In Chattogram, several vehicles were vandalised during a factional clash between two groups of supporters of the AL candidate Afsarul Amin (Chattogram-10) in the city's Sulokbohor area.

According to media reports, campaigns and motorcades of at least 32 BNP and Jatiya Oikyafront candidates have come under attack allegedly from ruling AL men across the country since December 10.

More than 350 BNP-Jamaat men have been arrested and over 920 activists wounded in attacks allegedly by ruling party men during the same period.

ARREST CONTINUES

In Meherpur, police on Wednesday night arrested 22 people and recovered “10 molotov cocktails and four lethal weapons” in Sadar, Gangni and Mujibnagar upazilas.

Locals said the arrestees were BNP men. Police, however, didn't disclose their identities.

On the same night, law enforcers picked up seven BNP-Jamaat men from Faridpur and Jashore's Benapole.

In Cox's Bazar, police in the last two days arrested around 12 BNP men on charges of sabotage.

In Tangail, four cases were filed against 734 BNP-Jamaat and Krishak Sramik Janata League men over different criminal activities in the last four days.

Yesterday, police arrested a local BNP leader in Gopalpur upazila in several criminal cases.

In Moulvibazar, BNP men allegedly vandalised a campaign office of AL candidate MM Shahin (Moulvibazar-2) in Kulaura's Bhuksimoil area on Wednesday night. The incident left six AL men injured.

The AL blamed BNP-Jamaat men for the attack, but the BNP denied the allegation.

In Pabna, at least three molotov cocktails exploded when a group of AL men were campaigning for the party candidate (Pabna-3) in Chatmohar town on Wednesday night.

Incensed, AL men vandalised a campaign office of BNP candidate Anwarul Islam in Chatmohar.

In Bagerhat and Patuakhali, criminals set fire to two AL campaign offices early yesterday. No one was injured in the incidents.

In Jhalakathi, police detained district BNP General Secretary Munirul Islam Nupur for interrogating him over the attack on the motorcade of his party candidate Jiba Amin Khan (Jhalakathi-2).

The convoy of the BNP candidate came under attack on December 15. Later, Jiba filed a case accusing some AL men.

“The BNP has five factions here. We have been investigating which group had carried out the attack,” said Shanit Kumar Gayen, OC of Jhalakathi Sadar Police Station.

In Narayanganj, Jatiya Oikyafront candidate for Narayanganj-5 SM Akram yesterday alleged that supporters of his rival Jatiya Party candidate Selim Osman were conspiring to foil a campaign rally of the alliance scheduled for 2:00pm today at the playground of Sirajuddaula Club in Bandar upazila.

Selim's supporters were announcing over loudspeakers that they would hold a football match at the venue at the same time.

Sultan Ahmed Bhuiyan, a supporter of Selim and also a local ward councillor, denied the allegation saying that they had fixed the match schedule long before.

Our district correspondents contributed to this report.