- Several BNP leaders including Fakhrul hurt
- 5 vehicles vandalised at Ichhakhali Bazar
- Unidentified youths hurled brick chips at motorcade
- Rangamati trip cancelled
- BNP to hold press conference in Comilla
A group of miscreants vandalised at least five vehicles of a motorcade of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in Rangunia upazila of Chittagong this morning.
Fakhrul, who was leading a five-member delegation of the party on way to Rangamati, was hurt during the attack that took place at Ichhakhali Bazar around 10:40am, Mirza Fakhrul told The Daily Star over phone.
“It is unbelievable and we don’t have any words to condemn the attack,” he said.
Terming the attack “an example of the government’s intolerance”, Fakhrul said it does not want to give BNP any scope to stand by the people, Fakhrul alleged.
Following the attack amid heavy rain, BNP activists took shelter to a nearby mosque for some time, Fakhrul added.
The BNP delegation was scheduled to visit landslide-ravaged areas of Chittagong and Rangamati today. But it cancelled the Rangamati trip after the attack and decided to go back to Chittagong, the BNP leader said.
The attack seemed like an attempt to kill them, said BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, who was with Fakhrul inside the vehicle that came under attack along with four other vehicles.
“I never faced such incident in my life,” Chowdhury told our Chittagong staff correspondent over phone.
Amid heavy rain, the youths started hitting the vehicles with sharp weapons, iron rods and big stones, he said.
Meanwhile, sources with the BNP Nayapaltan headquarters in Dhaka told the correspondent that Fakhrul will hold a press conference at its Comilla district office later in the day.
Contacted, Imtiaz Bhuyan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Rangunia Police Station, told the daily that law enforcers had information that a BNP delegation would visit Rangamati today but they are yet to gather details of the attack.
The death toll in landslides stood at 153 in five hill districts including Rangamati, the worst affected area where 115 people died so far.
