Candidates’ supporters clash in Comilla, 20 hurt

At least 20 people were injured, two of them bullet-hit, in a clash between supporters of the Awami League mayoral candidate and the party’s rebel contender in Chauddagram of Comilla this afternoon.

Seven motorbikes and 20 shops were also vandalized and a microbus was torched during the incident, reports a correspondent Comilla.

Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway stopped for nearly two and half an hours during the clash that ensued around 4:00pm.

Mizanur Rahman is contesting the election on the ruling party ticket and Imam Hossain Patwari is running as an independent candidate.

The clash broke out while the supporters were campaigning for their candidates in the Chauddagram municipality elections slated for December 30.

Mizanur’s supporters was campaigning and marching to their party’s election office in the town when his competitor’s men chanted slogans against him, leading to the clash, locals said.

The supporters threw cocktail bombs and fired shots during the chase and counter-chase that left two people bullet wounded.

The shooting left Bangladesh Chhatra League activist Khaled Hossain, 22, and a minor boy Abdul Hannan, 12, bullet-hit. 

On information, additional police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members from Comilla reached the spot and brought the situation under their control.

When contacted, both the candidates blamed each other for the clash.   

“The supporters of the independent candidate that include Jamaat-Shibir activists carried out the atrocities,” suspected Md Shah Abid Hossain, superintended of police (SP) in Comilla.

“Actions will be taken against the perpetrators,” he said.

Earlier on December 11, four people were injured in a clash between the same groups.