Meanwhile, Palli Bidyut Unnayan Sangram Parishad (PBUSP) or 'the action committee for rural power development' yesterday enforced an indefinite hartal in Shibganj upazila, condemning and protesting Thursday's BNP attack on its procession.

As part of the general strike, the PBUSP workers have snapped road communication in and through the upazila of the north-western bordering district of Chapainawabganj by putting up barricades on roads and highways, and brought the foreign trade through Sona Masjid Land Port to a halt.

The police said the fourth dead is named Masir, son of Amjad Ali of Dewan Jaigir in the upazila. Another man killed in the assault is Mahbub Ali, 35, son of Abdul Hannan of Ghorapakhia and brother of a local UP chairman, Ashraf.

Shibganj police also confirmed the identities of the remaining two dead--Abdul Zilani, 14, son of Kalimullah of Bohlabari, and Akram Daad Khan, 32, son of Mosarraf Daad Khan of Bekir.

They recovered the bodies of Masir and Mahbub from a cropland near Beki crossroads. Masir's head was violently fractured and both the eyes of Mahbub were gouged out, police said. The bodies were buried after autopsy last evening.

The local BNP chapter said Mahbub was upazila president of Krishak Dal, the peasants' wing of the ruling coalition leader. Local BNP leaders also claimed Masir and Akram belonged to their party.

But Shibganj police said Mahbub was a listed terrorist accused in several cases of murders, extortion and violence.

They said the teenage Zilani came to the battle spot with the PBUSP procession.

Shibganj Police Station officer-in charge said the bodies of Akram and Zilani could not be recovered for autopsy, as their families had buried them by force.

Shibganj police arrested five villagers--Sufal, Sona, Abdur Razzak, Bakkar and Rabu--during the battle, said Chapainawabganj Police Super Mahfujul Islam. While, talking to The Daily Star yesterday Rajshahi Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam said cases would be filed and charge framed against the people responsible for the killings, injuries and the violent clashes.

Besides the four killed, some 100 others were injured in the clash that ensued Thursday afternoon when some BNP men waiting on roadside rooftops hurled bombs one after another at a PBUSP procession near Paily crossroads. The PBUSP processionists then retaliated by throwing bricks and shooting arrows, witnesses said.

The PBUSP brought out the stick-procession to press home its demands including uninterrupted electricity supply and then to hand over a memorandum to the upazila nirbahi officer.

With the latest killings, the death toll of the Kansat movement since January has hit 15.

VOLATILE KANSAT
The situation in Kansat was volatile yesterday and remain so as on yesterday evening, when this report was filed, as people in large numbers and including many women and children had been demonstrating on the streets since the morning.

So, besides the local police, a large contingent of paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles and additional police forces from the neighbouring districts were deployed in Shibganj and at Kansat Palli Bidyut Samity (PBS) to avoid any further violence.

Several thousands of people with sticks and brooms in hand took out a long procession in the afternoon, braving a downpour, to censure what they said was the government inaction about their demands.

They barricaded the Chapainawabganj-Sona Masjid Land Port road by felling roadside trees and abandoned electric poles on a 10km stretch of the road. Setting tires on fire at various points on the road, several hundreds of villagers agitated all day long, with women and children lending them support thronging the roadsides.

The traffic along the road was completely cut also because the demonstrators had shattered a large part of Takshaldighi culvert on it, resulting in a suspension of all export and import activities at the land port.

No vehicles were seen on roads. And all business houses at Abbas Bazar and Kansat kept their shutters down.

The PBUSP claimed local BNP men were threatening its leaders with police harassment.

PBUSP leaders said they would carry on the hartal until the Thursday's violence was properly investigated.

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Minu, Shahjahan smell conspiracy With the next general elections around the corner, Thursday's Kansat incident was staged as part of a conspiracy to damage the image of ruling BNP, Rajshahi City Corporation Mayor Mizanur Rahman Minutold