Seven persons have been killed and several others injured in an attack on a madrasa at a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh’s Ukhiya upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, officials said.
The attack took place at around 4 am at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama Al-Islamiyah Madrasa, located at Block H-52 of Camp 18 in Balukhali, Ukhiya. The victims include 3 teachers, students, and volunteers of the Madrasa. Apart from the six deaths, around 20 people were injured in the attack. The attackers shot some and stabbed others.
The deceased have been identified as Hafez Md. Idris, 32, Ibrahim Hossain, 24, Azizul Haque, 22, and Md. Amin, 32, Madrasa teachers Nur Alam, Hamidullah, 55, and another student Nur Kaiser, 15
The militants on Friday attacked Darul Ulum Nadwatul Ulama Al-Islamia Madrasa, 8th APBN deputy captain Kamran Hossain said. Among the injured, three died on the way to the hospital, he said, adding that a person named Mujib was detained in this connection.
Police have nabbed one of the attackers with a locally-made firearm, ammunition, and a sharp weapon, and the police forces are conducting raids in the camps to hunt the perpetrators of the attack.
According to the reports, the Rohingyas allege that a terrorist group wanted to set up a training center at the madrasa inside Camp No 18. The relatives of the victims have alleged that a group of men identifying themselves as ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) was pressurizing the chief of the madrasa to set up a terrorist training center there. As the madrasa authorities didn’t agree to the demand, they were attacked in the night.
The relatives added that the terrorists were still roaming around the camps, but the Rohingyas are not able to inform about the same to police fearing for their lives. They allege that while law enforcement authorities run the camps during the day, ARSA terrorists control the camps at the night.
(With IANS inputs)