Three people, including Baroiarhat municipality mayor of Chattogram's Mirsarai, sustained bullet injuries in an attack by miscreants near the Muhuri Project Friday morning. The injured are Baroiarhat Mayor and local Awami League leader Md Rezaul Karim Khokon, his assistant Ashok Sen and local Jubo League leader Sayeed Khan. Locals said there had been a dispute between two groups over the lifting of sand from the Feni River in the Muhuri Project area of Sonagazi upazila, Feni. A team led by Mayor Khokan was going to the project area in the morning to settle the dispute. A group of miscreants, "led by a local union parishad chairman," fired on the trawler Khokon and his associates were on in the river around 11am, leaving them critically injured, they said. Nur Hossain Mamun, officer-in-charge of Zorarganj Police Station of Mirsarai, said the injured were first taken to Mirsarai Upazila Health Complex and later shifted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for better treatment. Read: Bullet injured Noakhali BCL leader dies at DMCH The mayor sustained multiple bullet wounds in the abdomen, waist and shoulder, he said, adding that they are looking into the matter. Our Feni correspondent added that there had been a long-running feud between the mayor and Fazilpur union parishad (UP) Chairman Mujibur Rahman of Feni Sadar upazila over the lifting of sand from the River Feni. Mujibur said he had no involvement in the attack as he had been in Dhaka for the last three days. "However, the locals told me that the mayor and his supporters got into a clash with them over the sand lifting." During a drive Tuesday, Sonagazi Upazila Nirbahi Officer SM Manjurul Hoque seized two dredgers, used for lifting of sand, of the UP chairman from the Kalmichar area. Khaled Hossain Daiyan, officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station, said on information they rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. He said they would take legal action if any written complaint is made. Dr Mahmuda Akter of Mirsarai Upazila Health Complex said the mayor was shifted to the CMCH due to his critical condition.

Police have arrested a municipality councilor of Ranishankail upazila of Thakurgaon who was held by locals during his bid to steal a motorcycle from a mosque in Pirganj upazila.  The arrestee is Abdur Razzak, 43, a councilor of ward 6 of Ranishankail municipality and a resident of Bhandara village. According to police, Abdus Razzak was held by the locals at Baitul Aman (Belayet) Mosque in Pirganj upazila when he was trying to flee with a stolen motorcycle during the Tarabi prayers on Saturday night. READ: DNCC driver arrested over death of motorcycle passenger The stolen motorcycle was reportedly set ablaze by some agitated locals and a person was injured. Pirganj police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jahangir Alam said Abdur Razzak is the leader of a motorcycle theft gang in the district. He is accused in 45 cases of motorcycle theft filed at different police stations, he said. During preliminary interrogation, he confessed to involvement in the theft. Razzak will be sent to court on Sunday, the OC said.

Covid positivity rate in Natore sadar and municipality remained static  at 62%  in the last 24 hours until Friday morning. The overall infection rate in the district stood at 53% during the period as 82 people came out Covid positive in 154 sample tests, according to health officials. Besides, in Singra upazila the infection rate stood at 16%. Meanwhile hospitals in the district are facing space constraints as the number of patients are increasing alarmingly. READ: Week-long lockdown in Natore & Singra from Wednesday  Assistant director of Natore Sadar Hospital Paritosh Kumar Ray said the hospital’s coronavirus ward with 31 beds has been extended to yellow zone to treat 39 patients. Meanwhile, on third day of lockdown in the district to stem the virus spread, local  administration is maintaining a strict position installing police check posts in the town’s 12 points to limit movements. Bangladesh on Thursday registered 36 more coronavirus-related deaths and 2,537 fresh cases in 24 hours, with the Covid situation worsening post the detection of the Delta variant in different parts of the country. Although district administrations have imposed restrictions in most of the frontier districts to bring the situation under control, the infection and death rates are on the rise.   READ: Probe body formed over sexual assault of college girl in Natore The latest death toll pushed up the fatalities to 12,949. The Covid-19 death toll crossed the 12,000-mark in Bangladesh on May 11. With the new cases, the total caseload rose to 8,17,819, said the Directorate General of Health Services.

The local administration has put eight wards of Kushtia municipality and some areas in Bheramara upazila including Bheramara municipality under complete lockdown from early Thursday after a rise in the number of Covid-19 patients in the preceding 14 days.   Roads connected to the locdown areas have been closed around 5am while security measures have been strengthened to contain the spread of coronavirus.   The eight wards under Kushtia municipality are Thanapara-Kamalapur, Kuthipara, Chourhash-Phultala, Housing, Kalishankarpur, Baradi-Mangalbari, Majampur-udibari, Kumargaon-Chechua, Hatash Haripur union in Sadar upazila, seven wards — 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 -- under Bheramara municipality, Bahirchar and Chandgram union of the Bheramara upazila.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has donated a mobile clinic to Janzour, a municipality near capital Tripoli and home of thousands of internally displaced people, according to a statement published on Monday.