In a statement to local newspapers yesterday, the Janajuddho faction of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) claimed the responsibility for the killing.

The five slain are Akbar, 32, Latif, 29, Abdul Jalil, 40, Bazlu, 45, and Lutfor, 35. Of them, Akbar and Latif were residents of Natipota village, while Jalil, Bazlu and Lutfor hailed from Kultadanga of the same upazila.

Police said a gang of PBCP-Janajuddho stormed into a house of the village, where about 10 members of PBCP (Marxist-Leninist) faction were holding a secret meeting. The Janajuddho men caught five of them, took to a nearby field and slaughtered one by one.

The rest of the PBCP-ML members could manage to flee.

Police recovered the five bodies yesterday morning and sent to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital for autopsy. Police believe the slaying to be a sequel to a factional conflict over occupation of Gangar Beel, a natural water body, and control of the adjacent areas.

On March 24, the PBCP-Janajuddho killed another five operatives of the PBCP-ML at Kutubpur village under Sadar upazila in the district.

Sources said at least 98 people have been killed in the district in the last five months, compared to 55 in the previous three months, posting an alarming rise in factional killing by outlawed communist groups in Chuadanga. About seven underground political outfits with at least 1,000 armed members grouped into 20 gangs are active in the district.

The nine camps of the joint forces set up in the district to check outlaws so far have failed to make any significant headway in netting their targets, locals said.