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| Bangladesh | |
| Nine killed in riots in Bangladesh capital | |
| 2014-06-15 | |
The shanty town in Mirpur suburb is home to a community of Bihari Mohammedans and authorities said tensions there had been rising. Emergency services put the corpse count at nine, including eight in the camp and another who was brought to a hospital in central Dhaka. The exact trigger for the incident was unclear. "We can confirm the corpse count of eight people (in the camp). All of them are Biharis," fire service director Mahabubur Rahman told AFP. Half a million Indian origin Mohammedans have lived in refugee camps in the country since the 1971 war of independence against Pakistain. Although not all came from the Indian state of Bihar, they are referred to as "Biharis" in Bangladesh. Anti-Bihari feelings run deep among Bangladesh's majority Bengalis as the migrants supported Pakistain during the war. Most of the victims at the camp burned to death after their homes were torched during the festivities, Rahman said. An AFP photographer inside the camp said he counted nine bodies there, all of them with burn injuries. Several people were maimed after police fired shotgun pellets at the rioters, Rahman added. "The situation is now largely under control. But we could not recover the bodies from the camp," he said. One Bihari resident was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead from shotgun injuries, police inspector Mozammel Hoque told AFP. "Five other people were also brought to the hospital with shotgun and burn injuries," he said. Assistant commissioner of Mirpur police Kamal Hossain told AFP Saturday's festivities were triggered by firecracker kabooms marking the Islamic festival of Shab-e-Barat. "Tension has been building in the area for some time. Early this morning festivities erupted between Bengalis and Biharis and also Biharis versus Biharis," he said. Residents claimed that homes in the camp were torched by local Bengali Mohammedans. "Some 500 Bengalis armed with machetes, cleavers and hockey sticks attacked our camp in the early hours," resident Mohammad Shahjahan told AFP. "They locked up four of our houses from outside and then set them on fire. "We were able to escape as our sidewall was built of bamboo, but those who lived in concrete houses could not get out and died," he said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |