C T Online Desk: The tourists were expected to leave Sajek valley on Saturday noon but clashes erupted in Khagrachhari around the same time.
Almost 2,000 tourists started leaving for their respective destinations from Khagrachhari town around 11:30pm on Saturday after army personnel escorted them to the municipality from Rangamati’s Sajek valley, bypassing violence inflicted by ethnic minority groups.
The tourists were expected to leave Sajek valley on Saturday noon but got stranded due to a sudden eruption of violence that left at least 27 injured in different parts of Khagrachhari district during a blockade movement. Officials at Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital confirmed the casualties.
Notably, people have to transit Khagrachhari to reach Rangamati’s Sajek, and also to leave the district.
Earlier on Saturday, the “Jumm-Chhatra Janata” enforced the dawn-to-dusk blockade in Khagrachhari in protest against the rape of a Marma schoolgirl last week.
Since 12pm, chases and counter-chases began between different groups, prompting authorities to impose Section 144 and deploy additional security forces, including seven platoons of BGB personnel. One media report claimed the rival groups belonged to ethnic minorities and Bangalees.
Many anarchists wielded firearms during the clashes and demonstrations. Around 4pm, law enforcers managed to disperse the agitators from different roads in Khagrachhari Sadar Upazila and the district’s Guimara Upazila.
As tensions subsided, the stranded tourists from Rangamati were initially brought to the Dighinala Cantonment in Khagrachhari under army protection and from there to Shapla Square in Khagrachhari town.
BGB 32 Battalion chief Lt Kamran Kabir Uddin told reporters that seven platoons of BGB men were deployed to maintain law and order in coordination with other security agencies.
Those injured in the violence include one with gunshot wounds, two wounded with explosives, and 24 others wounded with local weapons and brickbats.
Earlier, on Tuesday night (23 September), a schoolgirl was allegedly gang-raped on her way home after private tuition. Family members rescued her in an unconscious state from a field around 11:00pm that night. A case was filed against three unnamed individuals.
Police later detained a 19-year-old youth named Shoyon Shil. A court put him on a six-day remand.
