Miscreants open fire at Thanchi police station

Armed miscreants opened fire at Thanchi police station in Banbarban at around 8:30 tonight triggering an exchange of fire from police.

Chattogram range’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nure Alam Mina confirmed the news to Prothom Alo.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan also confirmed the news at around 9:45pm saying that he heard a gunshot rocked Thanchi police station tonight.

Nure Alam Mina said unidentified miscreants fired targeting Thanchi police station from a hill on the south eastern side. The police retaliated after being attacked.

“We have enough policemen in the police station. I deployed additional forces there after visiting the station on Thursday afternoon. The policemen there are doing fine. The miscreants are firing at the police station intermittently,” Nure Alam Mina said.

Locals said panic spread among the locals in Thanchi as gunfire started. The locals said members of militant group Kuki Chin Nationalist Front (KNF) are behind the attack in the police station.

Thanchi upazila nirbahi officer Mohammad Mamun told Prothom Alo at around 10:00pm a group of terrorists opened fire at the Thanchi bazar at around 8:30pm. They later fired targeting the police station forcing police and BGB members to counter them.

Mohammad Mamun said, "The police said around 400 to 500 rounds of bullets have been fired. The bullets fired by police and BGB will be known tomorrow."

The UNO said the firing comes to an end at around 10:00pm.

He said the terrorists may stay in nearby areas. Police and BGB have been deployed in the entire town. More members of BGB joined from Bolipara.

Thanchi police station officer-in-charge Jasim Uddin said the firing took place from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. Now the situation is calm.

The OC said, "We came to know the terrorists are staying at nearby places. So we are on alert."

KNF looted over Tk 1.7 million from two branches of Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank in front of Thanchi police station on Wednesday. As the members of police at Thanchi police station came forward to tackle terrorists, the armed men opened fire targeting the police members.

Earlier, on Tuesday night, the terrorists carried out an attack on Sonali Bank at Ruma bazar. They kidnaped manager Nizam Uddin of the bank. RAB rescued him on Thursday evening.