BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and three other party senior leaders were injured as local Awami League supporters allegedly attacked his motorcade at Isakhali in Rangunia upazila on their way to hillslide-hit Rangamati area.
Fakhrul along with six other BNP leaders was scheduled to visit the landslide points in Rangamati in the morning but the local administration restricted their entry through Deppachhari in Sadar upazila, said Kaptai Upazila Chairman Dildar Hossain.
The BNP leader then took another route from Chittagong through Kaptai to Rangamati.
When Fakhrul’s motorcade reached Isakhali around 10:30 am, a group of local AL men swooped on them vandalising their vehicles, Dildar said.
The injured also include BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, chairperson’s adviser Ruhul Amin Chowdhury and Chittagong division organising secretary Mahbubur Rahman Shamim.
After the attack, the BNP leaders got back to Chittagong. Earlier, Fakhrul landed in Chittagong Airport around 8:40 am.
Contacted, Fakhrul said 20-25 people, equipped with roads, sticks and sharp weapons, suddenly attacked his motorcade and damaged the vehicles carrying them.
“I and some other leaders suffered injuries as the attackers vandalised our vehicles,” he added.
Amir Khasru said the attackers not only hit their vehicles with sticks and rods but also showed them with stones.
He said Fakhrul and he suffered wounds in their hands while Rhul Amin in his neck and Shamim in head,
The BNP leader said ‘cadres’ of Awami League publicity secretary Hasan Mahmud might have carried out the attack.
BNP strongly denounced the attack saying it is an attack on democracy.
Speaking at an emergency press conference at Comilla south unit BNP’s office, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also alleged that the ruling party men made the attack in a planned way.
He said their party will stage demonstration in all district towns, metropolitan cities and all wards of Dhaka city on Monday to protest the attack. – UNB
