Police file case over Khagrachhari murders

Police have filed a murder case regarding the attack that took place in the Swarnibhar Bazar in Khagrachhari town.

At least seven men, including a pedestrian, were killed and three others injured when assailants opened fire on a rally that gathered in the Swarnibhar Bazar on Friday.

The rally was called by United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), one of the hill-tracts ethnic groups-based parties that have lost a lot of members to violence in the last nine months.

Officials said five of the dead were UPDF leaders and activists while the remaining victim was a government health employee.

Sub-Inspector of Khagrachhari Sadar police station Gautam De lodged the case against 15-20 armed assailants around 11:45pm Sunday. Their identities were not disclosed.

Shahadat Hossain Tito, officer in-charge of Khagrachhari Sadar police station, confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune, saying that police had to file the case as no one from the deceased's families would come forward.

Law enforcement agencies are conducting joint operations to capture the assailants, he said.

Meanwhile, the half-day roadblock called by Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP-UPDF faction), Democratic Youth Forum (DYF) and Hill Women's Federation ended around 12pm today without any incidents.

Three days after the attack, the environment inside Swanirbhar Bazar is yet to return to normal. Most of the shops are closed, while there is limited traffic in the Panchhari-Khagrachhari road.

UPDF appeals for judicial probe

At a joint press briefing, the presidents of Ganatantrik Jubo Forum, Pahari Chhatra Parishad, Hill Women’s Federation, and United Workers’ Democratic Front –all affiliated with the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) – rejected the investigation committee made under Khagrachhari Additional District Magistrate Abu Yousuf Ali.

The group also made four other demands. They demanded that the investigation committee formed to look into the Swaribhar massacre be replaced with a judicial probe, the JSS members involved in the massacre be brought to trial and prosecuted, law enforcement officials who failed to stop the crime be held accountable, and extremist JSS members are no longer given assistance.