12 members of AL, associate bodies detained; bus service resumes after 7hrs

Police detained 12 leaders and activists of Awami League and Bangladesh Chhatra League over the incident of attack on the residence of Barishal Sadar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Munibur Rahman on Wednesday night.

Officer in charge (OC) of Kotwali model police station Nurul Islam informed the journalists about the development at around 12 in the noon.

“We’ve received allegations and detained 12 men after conducting raids in different places. The drive to arrest the attackers is on,” the OC said.

A source of police said that the detainees include Barishal city Awami League’s joint secretary Hasan Mahmud alias Babu, relief affairs secretary Moazzem Hossain alias Firoz and district Chhatra League vice president Oliullah Oli.

Meanwhile, bus services between Barishal and other parts of the country resumed at around 12:30pm after it remained suspended from early Thursday.

Hundreds of activists of the district unit of BCL, student front of ruling Bangladesh Awami League, attacked the government residence of the UNO twice on Wednesday night. Several Ansar members, employed to guard the UNO’s residence, were injured in the incident.

BCL claimed that at least 30 of their leaders and activists sustained bullet wounds and other injuries at the time.

UNO Munibur Rahman said posters of state minister for water resources Col. Zaheed Farooque were hung up to commemorate the National Mourning Day at different places on the Upazila Parishad premises. BCL men came to tear down those at night. The UNO asked them to tear down the poster on Thursday morning as people were sleeping then. But the BCL men abused him verbally and started picketing around his residence, he added.

Barishal-Patuakhali bus owners association’s president and city unit Jubo League’s member Momin Uddin said several leaders-activists of Awami League, Jubo League and BCL were injured as police charged baton on them.

Bus services were suspended protesting at the incident, he added.