BGB men open fire after crash kills 2 jawans

Locals burn furniture and wood on Dhaka-Dinajpur highway to block it at Phulbari. Photo: Star

Aggrieved by two fellow jawans getting killed in a road accident, armed BGB men went wild in Phulbari of Dinajpur yesterday leading to a clash with locals that left 13 people injured, including three with bullet wounds.

The incident left Dhaka-Dinajpur highway blocked.

Police and locals said Border Guard Bangladesh jawans Al Amin, 19, and Rubel, 20, were returning to the 29 Battalion headquarters in Phulbari on a motorbike when they had a head-on collision with a truck in Rangamati area metres away from the headquarters around 1:20pm.

The accident left them dead on the spot.

Motorbike of the BGB jawans crushed under the truck. Photo: Star

Hearing the news, BGB jawans of the battalion rushed to the spot and started vandalising roadside shops and charging truncheons on locals accusing the locals of “letting the truck driver and his assistant flee”, sources said.

Around 10 locals were injured.

Following the incident, senior officers of the BGB went to the spot and took the jawans back to the barracks.

However, locals protesting the attack on them blocked Dinajpur-Dhaka highway in front of battalion headquarters after the soldiers had left the scene, sources said.

They said around 3:40pm, BGB men returned to the scene and there was a brawl between them and the locals. A vehicle of the BGB was vandalised and the jawans detained one of the locals in this connection.

When the man was detained, locals attacked the BGB men and the jawans fired their weapons, the sources said. 

Rabiul Islam, 28, Adiul Islam, 28, and Mazidul Alam, 26, suffered bullet injuries. Rabiul was taken to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital in a critical condition while Adiul and Mazidul were taken to Phulbari Upazila Health Complex.

“We are shocked by the accident that killed two BGB members, but it's not our fault,” said Md Rahim, a local.

Lt Col Zahedur Rashid, commanding officer of the Battalion, said the BGB members of the battalion went out as they heard about the accident. Later, the BGB members went on the rampage and attacked villagers as the driver and helper managed to flee the spot in the presence of locals.

He said when the BGB members returned to the scene, the villagers attacked them and damaged a vehicle. They tried to take away the person the BGB men had detained.

The BGB personnel fired their weapons in self-defence, the Lt Col claimed.

He, however, said a probe committee would be formed to investigate the incident and he would take action following the committee's recommendations.

Police sent the bodies of the two jawans killed in the accident to Dinajpur Medical College morgue.

Road communication on the Dinajpur-Dhaka highway was snapped as of filing of this report at 9:30pm. The locals had chopped down roadside trees to block the highway.