Jail guard attacked in Faridpur

A prison guard was wounded in a razor attack in Faridpur yesterday.

The guard -- Asaduzzaman, 42, son of Malek Biswash of Narail district -- came under the attack while going to a post office from Faridpur district jail for official purposes in his uniform.

He later took treatment at Faridpur General Hospital.

Shaheen Mahmud, the on-duty doctor at the hospital, said there was a wound caused by "some sharp object" on Asaduzzaman's back but it was not deep, reports a correspondent from Faridpur.

Asaduzzaman and another prison guard were going to Faridpur district post office on a motorcycle in the afternoon to drop some official letters, Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin said at a press briefing at the Department of Prisons in the capital yesterday.

"A man slashed at the prison guard [Asaduzzaman], who was sitting at the back of the motorcycle, with a straight razor and fled," he said.

The attack came following three machete attacks on uniformed men in which two cops -- an assistant sub-inspector and a constable -- were killed on October 22 and November 4, and a military policeman was injured on Tuesday.

The IG Prisons suspected that yesterday's attack was a sequel to those incidents, and advised his men not to wear uniforms outside the jail premises.

"Though no order has been issued yet, all are being advised not to wear uniforms during the work which can be done in plain clothes, as the uniformed men are specifically being targeted at present," he told the journalists.

In wake of recent attacks on uniformed men and other subversive activities, security has been stepped up in all the prisons across the country.

Patrols have been increased inside the jails and restrictions imposed on the movement of vehicles and general people around the prison facilities, said Brig Gen Iftekhar.

Also, the jail authorities are not allowing the prisoners to carry one-band radios, which is allowed under normal circumstances, he added.

Contacted, Officer-in-Charge Nazim Uddin of Faridpur Sadar (Kotwali) Police Station said no case had been filed as of 10:00pm yesterday.