2 more killed in fresh communal violence in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Oct 16 (IANS) A three-member probe body has been formed after two more persons were killed in a fresh attack in Bangladesh. The attackers vandalised puja mandaps and carried out attacks on temples in Noakhali's Begumganj upazila during the celebrations of Durga Puja.

The committee is being headed by Additional District Magistrate Md Tarikul Islam, confirmed Mohammad Khurshed Alam Khan, deputy commissioner of Noakhali district. The committee was asked to submit its report within seven working days, he added.

A dead body of a youth named Pranto Chandra Namodas, 20, was recovered from the pond adjacent to ISKCON temple in Chowmuhani early on Saturday. Earlier, another man was killed and 30 others were injured after locals carried out attacks on several temples in Chowmuhani area of Noakhali.

Meanwhile, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, the home minister claimed everyone involved in the communal attack will be identified and punished under the law. He said the government is firmly determined to ensure that people of all religions can freely perform their religious rituals.

Tazul Islam, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development of Bangladesh, has called opon local public representatives to be alert and stand strong against those who would seek to destroy communal harmony.

"I am making a call to all public representatives at the city corporation, municipality, upazila parishad, district parishad and union parishad level, and all other institutions... Be ready," he said at an event in Dhaka on Saturday.

On the eighth day of Durga Puja, Quran was allegedly disrespected at a temple in Cumilla which led to attacks on Hindu places of worship which triggered clashes.

After that several incidents occurred in Chandpur, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Moulvibazar, Gazipur, Chapainawabganj and other districts. The BGB personnel have been deployed in two dozen districts and security was beefed up at puja venues.

Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, Whip of the National parliament and organising secretary of the ruling Awami League, after visiting the affected temples on Saturday, said Friday's attacks on several temples at Chowmuhani in Noakhali were pre-planned. He said, "A group of fanatic Bangladeshis planned to destabilise the country by carrying out the attacks on the provocation of the so-called prime minister's spoiled child. It was not an isolated incident."