At least 15 villagers, including women, were injured in sporadic clashes, which lasted for around five hours, between two local groups in Sadar upazila of Brahmanbaria today.

Police charged batons and fired rubber bullets to bring the situation under control. A tense situation was prevailing in the area as of filing this report at 7:00pm.

Police and locals said there had been a long-standing dispute between the Dola Bari Group and Khane Bari-Siraj Ali Bari Group over territorial supremacy in Kaliseema Paschim Para under Natai Dakshin union of the upazila.

Of them, a member of Zila Parishad Babul Miah leads the Khane Bari-Siraj Ali Bari Group while former UP member Arju Miah leads the Dola Group.

According to the sources, supporters of Babul beat up Dola Group's Shawkat and his son on Sunday evening. Locals tried to settle the matter last night but failed.

Later this morning, a meeting was called to resolve the matter at Sadar Police Station.

Supporters of both groups equipped with locally-made arms got locked into clashes when the arbitration was ongoing around 11:00am, witnesses said.

At least 15 villagers were injured and several homes and structures were damaged in the clashes.

Of the injured, Harris Miah, Babu, Shakib, Firoz Mia, Sohag Mia, Hanif Mia, Billal Mia, Rozina Akter, Siraj Mia and Noab Mia were admitted to Sadar Hospital and the rest were receiving treatment at various private clinics.

Md Sohel Ahmed, inspector (operations) of Sadar Police Station, said they used more than 50 rounds of rubber bullets and charged batons to bring the situation under control.

Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to avoid further untoward incidents, he added.