By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – At least six people were gunned down and three others injured in a clash between two groups of an ethnic political party in Bangladesh’s southeastern Chattogram Hill Tracts, local media reported.
The incident took place near Swanirbhar in Sadar upazila between the groups of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) on Saturday morning, local news agency United News of Bangladesh (UNB) quoted Shahadat Hussain, a police officer, as saying.
Hussain mentioned that the gunfight took place between the two groups named UPDF Prasit and UPDF Democratic centering to establish supremacy over the area.
Additional police and army personnel were deployed in the area to avoid further chaos, Hussain added.
On May 3, chairman of local government (Naniarchar upazila parishad) and a leader of hilly political group were shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Rangamati. Later on May 4, more five men were killed and eight others injured in another gun attack on a motorcade while people were going to attend the chairman’s funeral programme.
United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) is a Chattogram Hill Tracts-based regional political party founded in 1998, which wants to establish full autonomy in the hilly area. But, the party has divided factions which aimed at controlling power within them and the area.
The UPDF had taken part in the national election in 2001 in two Chattogram hilly constituencies but failed to win.
