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Settler attack in Taindong: 7 dead, 50 injured, 500 houses burnt, claims UPDF

chtnews.com
News No. 95/2013, Sunday, August 04, 2013

YESTERDAY’S settler attack in Taindong in Matiranga has left seven Jumma people dead, 50 injured and around 500 houses in 10 villages burnt to ashes, claims United Peoples’ Democratic Front (UPDF).

The dead include a 70-year old man named Arun Mohan Chakma from Monodas Para, Kaladhan Chakma from Denochara and Suresh Dhan Talukder and his mother in Sorbeshwar Para.

The identities of the remaining dead victims could not be known. The settlers are believed to have hid the dead bodies.

Deceased Arun Chakma’s son, Jyotish Baran Chakma, who survived the attack, said, they had come under attack when he was carrying his father on his back to flee to the jungle. “The settlers hacked him and I had to leave him behind to save myself” he added.

Kaladhan Chakma was also reportedly hacked to dead while he was running for shelter, his friend Suku Chakma told chtnews.com from Indian border, adding that the settlers had also struck him on his hand with a machete.

Suresh Dhan Talukder and his mother are believed to have been burnt to dead inside their house as they could not escape due to serious illness.

According to UPDF, about five hundred houses have been burnt down, while five thousand Jumma villagers are now inside Indian border seeking refuge there. However, the Indian security force has not opened the gates for them forcing them to languish outside the border fence.

In addition, about 160 families from Porabari, Taindong and Bogapara have taken refuge in Ultachari Nabaranta Para in Panchari.

The villages that came under attack are Dewan Para, Taindong, Ajolong, Sorbheswar Para, Monodas Para, Bogapara, Denochara, Bhagaban Tila, Bandorsingh Para and Talukder Para.

The settlers burnt the last village at dead at night yesterday, while the first wave of the attack lasted for 3 hours from 3 to 6pm.

Wounded:
At least 50 Jummas have been wounded in the attack, five of them seriously. The seriously injured include Fhoni Bhushan Chakma, Member, Ward No. 1 of Taindong UP, Kala Kazi Chakma, Supayan Chakma and Suku Chakma (Denochara). Of them, Supayan and Suku fled to India.

Fhoni Bhushan Chakma is among the 11 Jummas who came under attack yesterday and are now being detained by BGB.

UPDF in a statement termed alleged kidnapping of the Bengali settler, Kamal Hossain, 27, as a farce, saying, ‘The kidnapping was stage-managed to find a pretext for the attack.’

The settlers say Kamal Hossain’s kidnapping had triggered the attack on the Jumma villages.

Pradipan Khisha, UPDF’s chief organizer in Khagrachari, emphatically said, “We have inquired into the claim of the settlers and found no substantial evidence that he was actually kidnapped. Kamal was never kidnapped. The truth will come out if an independent, impartial and fair inquiry is conducted.”

He put a question to the authorities: “If Kamal is wounded, why he has not been admitted to a hospital after the alleged rescue?”

Latest: victims return from Tripura border
According to a latest news, the attack victims who crossed over to Indian side of the border to seek refuge have begun to come back to their respective villages after Dipankar Talukder, Minister for CHT Affairs, and a BGB commander visited them and promised them security of life and property.
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