Author: Press Trust of India/ Associated
Press
Publication: www.expressindia.com
Date: May 7, 2003
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=21151
Islamic militants clashed with villagers
opposing their campaign for a Taliban-style revolution in Muslim-majority
Bangladesh, leaving one rebel dead and five wounded, authorities said on
Tuesday.
The violence occurred on Monday
in Bhurghata, a farming village in Barisal district, 120 kilometres south
of the capital Dhaka, said the area's police chief Mohsin Hossain.
Around 25 members of Hizbul Tauhid,
a little-known Islamic group, gathered in the area and tried to distribute
handbills about their cause, he said.
The clash erupted after one of the
militants used a hammer to attack several villagers who refused to take
their handbills, arguing that the militant cause was against Islam, Hossain
said.
Nearly 200 villagers hit back with
rocks and iron rods, killing one militant and wounding five others. The
other militants fled.
Police were trying to learn more
about the group and their activities, Hossain said.
