At least 3 killed in clashes in Bangladesh’s Khagrachhari amid protests
At least three people were killed and several others injured Sunday in heavy gunfire and clashes in Khagrachhari, a hill district in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said. The violence erupted in Guimara subdistrict during protests over a reported rape case, despite emergency restrictions imposed under Section 144. The Home Ministry said in a statement that a major and 12 other army personnel, the officer-in-charge of Guimara police station along with two other policemen, and several civilians were wounded in the unrest. Authorities expressed sorrow over the deaths and vowed that those responsible would face legal action. “No perpetrator will be spared,” the ministry said. Following the clashes, images and videos circulated on social media showing fires at shops and buildings in Ramsu Bazaar, a marketplace known to the Marma community. Activists linked to the Jumma Students’ Movement alleged that homes and shops belonging to hill people were torched. Local Bengali groups, however, blamed armed ethnic organizations for the violence. Reports that army personnel had been attacked circulated widely online in the early afternoon, though neither the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) nor district officials confirmed those claims. Khagrachhari’s deputy commissioner, A.B.M. Iftekharul Islam Khondker, told the BBC that he and the superintendent of police had tried to reach Guimara after the violence began, but road blockades by protesters prevented them from arriving by 5 p.m. Later in the evening, regional police chief Ahsan Habib Palash said the situation was “under control.”
