Army and police personnel have been deployed in the raided villages of Babupara, Lemuchhara, Basantapara, Keranginal, Durpajjanal, Pahartali, Sawmill Para, Ramesshu Karbari Para, but many indigenous people are still scared to return to their homes.

The Daily Star correspondent saw the arson wiped all the indigenous homes out of existence in five of the ravaged villages.

"Most people fled their homes after the violence and some of them are camping out while the rest have taken refuge in forests around the villages," said a local, requesting anonymity.

They are passing their days in utter misery, without bare necessities and medicines, villagers at Pahartali and Sawmill Para said.

The indigenous people claim that Bangalees, both Hindu and Muslim, torched and looted about 350 houses in the villages under Mahalchhari Police Station on August 26, killing two, including an eight-month-old child, and raping at least 10 women.

The attackers also set Buddhist temples on fire and took away four statues of Buddha, they claimed.

The abduction of a Bangalee youth, Rupan Mahajan, allegedly by a gang of indigenous people on August 24 was in the heart of the violence. His family said the hostage-takers demanded Tk 5 lakh in ransom.

The hills people alleged that army and police stood by when the marauding gangs ransacked the villages, a claim dismissed by law enforcement agencies.

Local authorities, both civil and military, said their personnel were closer to the flashpoints during the violence, but could not rein in the raging mobs.

"We are yet to prepare full lists of burnt houses and property losses. Two magistrates have been assigned to the task. So far we have got a list of 177 burnt houses in three villages -- Lemuchhara, Babupara and Pahartali," said Humayun Kabir Khan, deputy commissioner of Khagrachhari district.

"We have provided each affected family with five kilograms of rice, matchboxes and candles," he said.

The headman at Lemuchhara said Bangalee settlers of Changrachhari cluster village torched 63 of 85 houses in the village, forcing the indigenous people to flee to the forest.

"At around 3:00pm, they came with arms and jerrycanfuls of kerosene and petrol," he said.

Proggajyoti Chakma of Lemuchhara village said some hills people rushed to the police camp, just 100 metres off the village, to inform them of the 'mindless raids', but the law-enforcers never responded to their cries for help.

"We had no other way but to flee to the jungles," he said.

The Babupara village still stands in ruins, where at least 80 burnt-out houses testify to the grisly attack.

A 35-year-old woman at the village told this correspondent that she was gang-raped by seven men.

"Seven thugs raped me one after another. Some other women at Keranginal and Durpajjanal were also raped. We don't know how to go to a doctor and file a case," said the woman, a mother of five children.

But the DC dismissed the allegation, saying, "I also heard of the allegation and asked Mahalchhari Officer-in-Charge (OC) Hafizur Rahman to look into it. The OC said no such incident took place."

At Pahartali and Sawmill Para, the hills people said they were living under a spectre of fear and violence. "We have no food, medicine and shelter to support ourselves," said a villager, breaking down in tears.

"It is the most heinous attack by Bangalees on our villages after independence. Abduction is now a regular feature in Bangladesh, but no such attack takes place on the common man anywhere for revenge basing on mere suspicion," said Bipul Bikash Khisa, a local UP member.

"This planned violence is aimed to bankrupting us," he said.

Hafizur said 45 Bangalee and seven indigenous people were arrested in connection with two cases filed after the incidents.