The armed police equipped with water cannons and other riot gear kept a sharp vigil from a close proximity. Sporadic clashes continued on Friday between police and bigots while extreme right-wing Islamic Shashontantra Andolon on Saturday took out a big procession in downtown Dhaka's Purana Paltan area protesting what they called as "demeaning of the "Holy Quran". The violence had erupted after an alleged blasphemy incident at a Durga Puja pavilion in Cumilla, bordering Chandpur and about 100 kms from Dhaka, after which a probe was launched. They will be hunted down and punished," she said while exchanging greetings with the Hindu community members during an event at Dhakeshwari National Temple in Dhaka on the occasion of Durga Puja. It doesn't matter which religion they belong to. "The incidents in Comilla are being thoroughly investigated. On Thursday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to bring to justice the culprits behind the violence, saying anyone involved in the attacks on Hindu temples and Durga Puja venues in Comilla will not be spared. With the latest killing, the death toll during the Durga Puja celebrations across the country has reached five. The police, meanwhile, said that they have recovered the body of a Hindu devotee from a pond near a temple in southeastern Begumganj sub-district of Noakhali.Īccording to a Hindu community leader, the deceased was a victim of bigot attacks on devotees on Friday.įour people were killed and scores of others injured during clashes between Muslim bigots and the police at Hajiganj sub-district in central Chandpur on Wednesday and Thursday, prompting the government to call out paramilitary forces to maintain law and order across the country. Voicing optimism over the investigation, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that "we expect developments of the investigations in the next one or two days". The elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said it expects to arrest some of the key perpetrators of the sporadic violence which took place in the past three days. The paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has expanded the vigil from 22 to 34 out of 64 administrative districts.