Three activists of United People鈥檚 Democratic Front, a political organisation based in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, were shot dead at Panchari upazila in Khagrachari on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the UPDF in a statement on Wednesday condemned the incident and announced dawn-to-dusk road blockade on Thursday in Khagrachari.
The deceased were identified as Shashon Tripura, 35, Sijon Chakma, 50 and Join Chakma, 25.
Confirming the matter, Panchari police officer-in-charge Jasim Uddin said that the bodies were sent to hospital for autopsy.
鈥楩iling a case in the incident is under process,鈥� added the police official.
The UPDF in a statement claimed that all of the deceased were activists of Prasit Khisa-backed UPDF alleging that UPDF-Gonotantrik, a group active in some areas of the CHT, was responsible for the killings.
The UPDF described UPDF-Gonotantrik as a 鈥榥eo-masked force鈥�.
UPDF spokesperson Ongyo Marma said that the incident occurred at about 10:00am on Wednesday in the upazila鈥檚 Shantiranjanpara under Latiban union.
鈥楾he deceased were involved in organisational activities in that area, where a group of 13鈥�14 people of the neo-masked force [UPDF-Gonotantrik] suddenly opened fire killing them on the spot,鈥� he said.
UPDF-Gonotantrik organising secretary Miton Chakma denied the allegations and said that the firing that killed the three UPDF activists stemmed from either their internal clash or from enmity with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti led by Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma aka Santu Larma.
