Campus Violence Closes Bangladesh University

Rajshahi University was ordered closed after at least 25 students were injured in fierce battles between rival political groups, the northern university’s officials said Thursday.

An administrative council statement said the 10,000-student campus had been shut indefinitely to avert more clashes and ordered students to leave their dormitories immediately.

Witnesses said the battles erupted Wednesday when about 100 activists from the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party attacked rivals with swords, spears and knives. They also ransacked nearly 100 rooms in three dormitories and burned books and papers.