Seven shot dead during polls in Bangladesh hills

CHITTAGONG: At least seven people were shot dead during local government elections in Bangladesh‘s restive Chittagong Hills Tracts, where a low level insurgency has left dozens killed in recent years, police said Monday.

Unidentified attackers, carrying heavy firearms, sprayed bullets at four SUVs carrying election officials and reserve police as they were returning from a polling centre in a remote hill area in the southeastern tribal district of Rangamati.

“Seven people were killed,” local police chief Alamgir Kabir told AFP, adding more than a dozen people were injured.No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but police said they suspect supporters of a local candidate, who boycotted the polls, were behind the killings.

“We’ve photos of (the candidate) brandishing an AK-47 rifle,” a police official said, adding they believe he has ties with the main insurgent group in the region.