Miscreants used gunpowder and petrol during the clash with the Ahmadiya community over a Jalsa event that left two dead and over 50 injured on March 3 in Sadar upazila of the district, police said.
SM Sirajul Islam Huda, superintendent of police (SP) of the district, came up with the claim at a press conference at his office on Thursday six days after the incident.
No sooner had the conference started, the police officer requested journalists to avoid sensitive questions over the matter.
Terming the incident as planned, the SP said a trained group of miscreants carried out the attack on houses, vandalised, looted and torched and used gunpowder and petrol for setting fire.
He claimed that losses of lives and properties could be avoided due to vigilance by the law enforcers.
Addressing the consequences of that day, he suspected that the violence might have spread across the country unless the law enforcers moved for an immediate action.
“Some 8,000 Ahmadiya devotees gathered at the Salana Jalsa on that day while 7,000 to 8000 people attacked from outside against the deployment of only 170 police personnel, 64 Rapid Action Battalion members and five platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB),” he said.
A total of 13 cases have so far been filed in this connection, the SP said, adding that 165 people have been arrested.
Of the cases, four cases were filed by police under Special Power Act, one under Digital Security Act and the rest lodged by the victims, the police officer said.
Some 10,000 to 11,000 people were implicated as anonymous and a process is underway to file more cases in connection with the rampage, the SP informed.
Assuring general people not to panic over the arrest, he said those accused are being arrested on the basis of a report by the intelligence and scrutinising the video footage of the incident.
He claimed that a section of people in a planned way carried out the attack to destabilise the country and tried to burn an elderly cop to death.
Apart from this, the miscreants torched an office of traffic police during the attack. However, a peaceful situation has been prevailing in the district, the SP said.
Additional SP (admin) ASM Shafiqul Islam, Additional SP (sadar circle) Rakibul Islam and Panchagarh Sadar police station OC Abdul Latif Miah, among others, were present at the press conference.
Earlier on March 3, two people were killed and at least 50 others including policemen were injured in the clash between a section of Muslim devotees and police during a protest march of the devotees demanding the closure of an Ahmadiya community’s event in Panchagarh district town.
On the following day, rumours were spread in different parts of the district town and on social media saying that some Ahmidyya community members slaughtered two Muslims.
Following the rumours, some young people equipped with sticks and sharp weapons blocked roads, carried out arson attacks, and looted shops and houses of the Ahmadiya community.
