10 injured in bomb attack on victory procession of winning candidate Tahmina Begum

At least 10 people were injured in a bomb attack on the victory procession of winning independent candidate Tahmina Begum in Kalkini, Madaripur on Monday.

The incident took place in Fasiata Bazar of Kalkini upazila around 11:00am.

Seven of the injured were Emrat Sardar, 40, and Akkel Ali Sardar, 40, of Kaligar area of Alinagar union, Abu Bakar, 30, of South Kanaipur area, Rubel Fakir, 26, and Azim Chowkidar, 25, of Mirakandi area, Md Ishraq, 16, of Tumchar area and Rafiq Fakir, 25, of Alinagar area. They all were from Kalkini upazila.

According to unofficial results of the 12th parliament election, incumbent lawmaker and Awami League-nominated candidate Abdus Sobhan alias Golap (boat) conceded defeat to the lawmaker from the reserved seat and independent candidate Tahmina Begum (eagle) by 34,662 votes. Abdus Sobhan is the central publicity and publication affairs secretary of Awami League while Tahmina Begum is the president of Awami League’s Kalkini upazila unit.

Locals said supporters of Tahmina Begum led by former chairman of Alinagar union parishad Hafizur Rahman brought out a procession on Monday morning. When the procession was marching from Kaliganj to Fasiatala Bazar, supporters of the incumbent UP chairman Shaeed Parvez attacked the procession on the way, hurling several handmade bombs that left at least 10 people injured.

The injured were admitted to Kalkini Upazila Health Complex and Madaripur 250-bed Hospital.

Two of the injured – Emarat Sardar and Abu Bakar – were sent to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition, said Riad Mahmud, medical officer of the Madaripur 250-bed Hospital.

Hafizur Rahman said supporters of the chairman Shaeed Parvez attacked the procession of the 'eagle' all of a sudden, leaving many of them injured. Two were in critical condition, and one of them lost his wrist.

Regarding the allegation, UP chairman Shaeed Parvez told Prothom Alo over mobile phone Hafizur Rahman and his people, who are supporters of eagle, had been tried to attack them since Sunday night. Hafizur Rahman and his people came to Fasiatala on Monday morning with locally-made weapons and arms and bombs. At that time, certain Emarat was holding bombs in a bag and as a bomb went off, Hafizur Rahman ordered his men to attack the supporters of Shaeed Parvez.

“As I informed the police of the incident immediately, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, as well as detained Hafizur Rahman,” Shaeed Parvez added.

Madaripur’s additional superintendent of police Md Qamrul Islam said additional forces have been deployed in Kalkini following the post-polls violence and police were trying to detain the people involved in the attack.

Clashes and vandalism were reported between the supporters of eagle and boat from various places of Kalkini upazila. Kalkini municipality mayor SM Hanif alleged eagle supporters were attacking others out of enthusiasm,

Regarding the allegation, winning candidate Tahmina Begum said she ordered her activists to refrain from all forms of violence. “However, instigated by the boat candidates Abdus Sohab Golap, some of his activists attacked our victory procession, and that could have triggered further clashes. But, I sought police help to control the situation,” she added.