An armed gang vandalised the ward commissioner's office in ward no. 13 in Chittagong's Pahartali area where an independence day programme was being held. The attackers also looted Tk 30,000 and valuables including a microphone and a cassette player.

Locals alleged that 14 men accused in a related case filed with Khulshi Police Station were not being arrested due to their affiliation with the ruling coalition.

In Mymensingh's Purbo Dhala upazila, members of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its affiliates -- the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and the Jubodal -- allegedly attacked an AL cultural programme and rally near Purbo Dhala Bazaar. The attackers also ransacked AL offices and wrecked the stage prepared for the rally.

Ten shops belonging to AL sympathisers were also damaged in the attack. Some 35 AL men including local AL leader Abdul Gafur Chan Mian, were injured, sources said.

Local BNP leaders denied responsibility for the attack.

On the Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) campus in Mymensingh, JCD men allegedly attacked a procession of AL's student front Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on its way to place wreaths at the BAU Liberation War Memorial. Seven BCL men including Sarwar Murshid Akhand and Atiquzzaman Royal, president and general secretary of BAU unit of the BCL, were injured.

During a press conference at the local press club on Friday afternoon, BCL leaders threatened an indefinite strike at the university if the culprits were not arrested within 24 hours.

In Natore, 15 members of the pro-AL Jubo League were attacked on their way back from local Shaheed Minar. Jubo League leader Shahabul Islam was severely injured in the attack. He was first admitted to Lalpur Hospital and later shifted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital as his condition worsened.

At Kurain in Comilla's Debidwar upazila, a reception for freedom fighters organised by local Jubo League was marred by attacks allegedly by BNP and Jubodal activists, who ransacked furniture and destroyed a stage at the reception venue.

Sources said the attackers severely beat up local AL leader Ali Ashraf present at the function.

AL leaders in Feni at a press conference yesterday alleged that BNP men looted AL offices in Parshuram upazila and destroyed portraits of Bangabandhu on Independence Day on Friday.

On the other hand, BNP lawmaker Sayeed Iskandar from Feni-1 constituency has allegedly threatened to lock up the AL office at Chhagalnaiya upazila on April 30, sources said.

UNB reports: AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil yesterday condemned Friday's attacks on AL rallies, saying the incidents once again proved the ruling coalition's opposition to the Liberation War.

"Parshuram BNP leaders Naser Chowdhury, Jafar and Abu Taleb attacked and ransacked the local AL office and looted valuables from it as per instructions from Sayeed Iskandar, the prime minister's brother," Jalil said in a statement.