Five of the bullet-hit injured -- Enamul, 52, Mikhail, 34, Razzak, 25, Selim, 25 and another unidentified man --. were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Witnesses said BDR men took away two bullet-hit persons, an allegation the paramilitary forces refuted.

BDR sources said seven BDR members including Major Shafiul Alam and Nayek Subedar Tofazzal Hossain were injured.

Police said Officer-in-Charge of Godagari Police Station Zahedur Rahman and three constables were injured during the clash that raged in Sultanganj for two hours from 11:00am, halting traffic on Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj road.

Local people claimed that BDR fired at least 25 bullets on them without provocation, but BDR officials said they fired 10 rounds of gunshots to disperse the mob that obstructed seizure of smuggled goods and damaged BDR vehicles.

Sources said Godagari BDR Company Commander Nayek Subedar Mustafa, on a tip-off, chased a Chapainawabganj-bound bus from Mohishalbari and seized nine sacks of sugar smuggled in from India and arrested three women including Sajeda from the bus after it reached near Sultanganj BDR outpost.

But when the paramilitary personnel beat and stripped Sajeda while dragging her to the outpost, a local businessman, Rakib, protested. The BDR men then started beating Rafiq with rifle butt, prompting hundreds of locals to fight pitched battles with them.