A 15-year-old girl was injured by a stray bullet in Dinajpur Sadar upazila on Saturday morning.

The bullet was fired from a Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defense Party (VDP) training centre. Following the accident, officials shut down operations at the centre.

Shahnaz Parvin, an SSC examinee and student at Dinajpur Technical School and College, is the daughter of rice mill worker Jalal Uddin. She lives with her family in Shibrampur village.

According to her parents, Shahnaz was sitting outside the house with her younger sister when she felt a sharp pain in her right knee.

Shahnaz's mother, Sabekun Nahar, said the bullet came from the Ansar-VDP training centre, located about 1.5 kilometres away in Uttar Gosaipur village.

Her parents first took her to the training ground and then to Dinajpur 250-Bed General Hospital for treatment.

Medical Officer Dr Rakibul Islam confirmed a one-centimetre wound consistent with a bullet injury but noted no bullet remained lodged in the wound.

Shahnaz is now recuperating at home, though still in severe pain.

Residents of the area voiced frustration, recalling a similar incident in 1989 when a stray bullet from the same training centre killed a woman named Joynab Begum.

Police collected the bullet from the scene.

According to sources, the facility is designed to prevent bullet leakage, with firing directions oriented from south to north. However, the bullet that struck Shahnaz reportedly travelled northeast, crossing the Dinajpur-Rangpur highway and bypassing several buildings.

Ansar-VDP district adjutant Md Nuruzzaman said operations at the training centre have been permanently halted for high-range bullet firing.

"This area has become densely populated and unsafe over the years. It was an accident. The trainee might have mishandled the recoil, causing the bullet to change direction," he said.

He, however, added, "The training centre is at least one and a half kilometers away… It is unlikely for a bullet to travel such a distance. This seems unusual. We are looking into the incident."