Jamaat man killed in Meherpur

A Jamaat activist was killed and at least 45 including five policemen were injured as the party men clashed with law enforcers in Mujibnagar upazila of Meherpur on Thursday during their 48-hour countrywide hartal (shutdown).Meanwhile, the other districts also witnessed vandalism, explosions and detention as the hartalstepped into second consecutive day.The deceased Jamaat man was identified as Delwar Hossain, 40, of Dariapur village in the upazila, Nahiduzzaman, superintendent of police in Meherpur, told The Daily Star quoting intelligence sources.Meanwhile, Abdul Mannan, a sub-inspector of Mujibnagar Police Station, who sustained critical injuries during the clash will be shifted to Dhaka by helicopter, reported our Kushtia correspondent quoting the OC of Mujibnagar Police Station.He is now at Meherpur General Hospital in an unconscious state.The OC was also injured during the two-hour long clash that started around 7:30am.Other injured policemen–Khairul, Azhar and Mir Alam– are three sub-inspectors (SI) of the same police station.They were admitted to Meherpur General Hospital.In another development, Sirajul Islam, nayeb-e-ameer of Meherpur Jamaat unit, told The Daily Star that another activist who was injured during the clash succumbed on way to Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital.The Jamaat leader also claimed that their 10 activists sustained bullet injuries during the clash.Jamaat-e-Islami enforced the 48-hour countrywide hartal (shutdown) from 6:00am Wednesday to protest the Supreme Court verdict on its leader Abdul Quader Mollah.The SC on Tuesday sentenced Jamaat assistant secretary general Mollah to death, overruling the judgment of International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had given him life term for war crimes committed during country’s Liberation War in 1971.

MEHERPUR

The clash ensued around 7:30am when the activists of Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, tried to block a road at Gouripur area in the upazila.As police resisted them, an altercation took place between the law enforcers and the Jamaat-Shibir men.Minutes into the altercation, the Jamaat-Shibir men equipped with wooden and bamboo sticks swooped on the policemen, triggering the clash, the OC added.Police had to fire 20 gunshots, 40 rubber bullets and 33 teargas canisters to disperse the clashing activists of Jamaat-Shibir as they retaliated by exploding around 50 homemade crude bombs, the OC said.The casualties took place during the clash, the OC added.The marauding party activists also torched a police van in Bandar intersection and vandalised at least 4 vehicles in different areas of the town as a sequence of the clash.The Meherpur police chief visited the spot following the clash.

COMILLA

Pro-hartal activists vandalised four covered vans and blasted two crude bombs in Chouddagram upazila headquarters, said Ismail Mia, officer-in-charge of Chouddagram.Pickets also exploded two home homemade bombs at Shasongachha and Chamcham bridge area in the city, reports our correspondent.Two platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh were deployed in the city to avert any untoward incident, said Lt Col Mamun Al Mahmud of battalion-10 of BGB.

RAJSHAHI

Pro-hartal activists blocked Rajshahi-Natore Bypass road for one hour from 6:00am.After seeing police, they fled the scene.Pickets also blasted several crude bombs in Bhadra area of the city around 6:00am, reports our correspondent quoting Ziaur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Boalia Police Station.

SYLHET

Jamaat-Shibir men vandalised a vehicle around 8:00am which was used by police for patrolling.Pickets also hurled brick chips targeting the policemen. Police detained one picket from the spot.In South Surma area, Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a procession and set fire to tyres.Meanwhile, the law enforcers picked up seven Shibir activists raiding different messes of students in the city, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

CHITTAGONG

Police arrested a local Jamaat leader who is also ward councilor of Chittagong City Corporation at Shalak Bahar in the city.Shamsuzzaman Helali was arrested as he was leading some Jamaat men for creating anarchy during hartal hours in the city.Earlier, several cases were lodged against the Jamaat leader, said Abdur Rab, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police.