Forty of them including12 bullet-hit were admitted to the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital while condition of one Shahjahan Miah is stated to be critical.

The officer-in-charge and five other policemen of Dakshin Surma Police Station also sustained injuries, police said.

As it had been a tradition for years, the villagers of Boldi went to erect a welcome arch under the banner of Boldi Juba Kalyan Samity on its border at about 10:30am when some inhabitants from Bodikona asked them to stop erecting the arch and they exchanged heated words.

Following calls from their mosques to come forward to face the rival group, about 800 people from the two villages, who were armed with lethal weapons, locked in the clashes.

As Dakshin Surma police failed to control the situation, additional police force led by the police superintendent joined them and dispersed the warring mobs by firing gunshots and tear gas shells.

There have been longstanding disputes between the inhabitants of villages Boldi and Bodikona over their boundary, sources said.