40 injured in attack on Ahmadiyyas

At least 40 people, including 20 policemen, were injured in Tuesday night's attack on several houses and shops of Ahmadiyya people in Ahmadnagar village of Panchagarh Sadar upazila.

The district administration formed a five-member probe committee led by Additional District Magistrate Ehtesham Reza and asked it to submit the report in three days.

The injured policemen took treatment at Panchagarh Sadar Hospital. Five wounded villagers were referred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, said Pradip Kumar Banik, resident physician of the hospital.

On Tuesday night, several hundred supporters of Islamist groups -- Sammilito Khatme Nabuwat Shangrakkhan Parishad, Iman Akida Rokkha Committee and Touhidi Janata -- blocked the Dhaka-Panchagarh highway in Sher-e-Bangla Park area.

They demanded cancellation of a prescheduled three-day convention of the Ahmadiyya community, said Golam Azad, additional deputy commissioner of the district.

They then marched to Ahmednagar village and attacked their houses.

Asked, Sammilito Khatme Nabuwat Shangrakkhan Parishad Member Secretary Mohammad Abdullah said the district administration had cancelled the three-day conference on Tuesday evening. But the situation went out of control, he claimed.

Taher Jugol, president of the Ahmadnagar Muslim Jamaat, said at least 20 people of their village were injured as the vandals attacked and torched some of their houses.

Panchagarh Deputy Commissioner Sabina Yasmin visited the injured people at the hospital and said, “The perpetrators will be punished following investigation.”

Police have filed three cases, including one under the Special Powers Act, said Officer-in-Charge Abu Akkas of Panchagarh Sadar Police Station.

Additional police and Border Guard Bangladesh members have been deployed in the town and Ahmednagar village.