Bullets were fired during a campaign of a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, leaving five people injured, including a teenage girl.
The incident occurred at a market adjacent to the Ali Khali Rohingya refugee camp in the upazila around 8:00 pm on Thursday. Local BNP leaders and activists claimed that Rohingya “criminals” opened fire on the campaign.
Among the five injured, two are residents of the Ali Khali Rohingya camp, while the other three are residents of Ward no. 9 of Hnila Union.
They are Bacha Mia, 45, of Mochni village, Shahab Uddin, 12, and Nusrat Jannat, 16, of Ali Khali village. The injured Rohingya individuals are Abdur Rahman, 27, and Mohammad Jisan, 13, both residents of the Ali Khali camp.
Police said the two injured Rohingya nationals were rescued and treated at Teknaf Upazila Health Complex. Due to their deteriorating condition, Nusrat Jannat and Shahab Uddin were taken to Chattogram city on Thursday night for advanced treatment. Nusrat sustained a gunshot wound to her back, while Shahab was shot in the waist.
Nusrat’s mother, Shamira Begum, said her daughter had been standing beside her near the doorway of a roadside house watching the “paddy sheaf” (BNP symbol) campaign when two bullets suddenly struck her daughter in the back.
One of the assailants’ bullets struck local resident Bacha Mia in the arm. He told journalists that a group of people had been singing and dancing in support of the paddy sheaf when gunshots were heard. People began running in panic, and before he could understand what was happening, he was hit in the hand by a bullet.
Teknaf Upazila unit BNP president Hasan Siddiqui told Prothom Alo that the area where the shooting took place is inhabited by Rohingyas and located near a refugee camp.
He said gunfire frequently occurs among Rohingya “criminal groups” there and that Rohingyas may have fired at the campaign. The matter has been reported to the police.
Teknaf upazila unit BNP general secretary Shahadat Hossain also made the same allegation. He said the market beside the Ali Khali camp remains open 24 hours and that Rohingyas fired targeting the paddy sheaf campaign.
However, Teknaf Model police station officer-in-charge Md Saiful Islam told Prothom Alo that although gunfire occurred during the campaign, there was no indication of political involvement behind the incident.
Police are working to uncover the motive, and as of 12:15 pm on Friday, no one had been detained, he added.