NEW DELHI: With communal tensions in Bangladesh simmering amid the Durga Puja attacks, authorities on Monday said that an angry mob damaged as many as 66 houses and burned down 20 homes of Hindus.
The violence was originally triggered by a social media post.
According to local media, the arson attack by a mob of over 100 people took place late Sunday in a village in Rangpur district’s Pirganj upazila, about 255 kilometers from Dhaka.

The police rushed to a fishermen neighbourhood as tension mounted over a rumor that a young Hindu man of the village had ‘dishonoured religion’ in a Facebook post, Assistant Police Superintendent Mohammad Kamruzzaman told reporters.
The police said that no casualties have been reported in the attack.
As many as 52 suspects have been arrested while a manhunt was launched for more suspects under a “combing operation” in collaboration with other security forces, he added.
As the police stood guard around the man’s home, the attackers set fire to other homes nearby, the report said.
The Fire Service Control Room said that their report from the scene indicates that 29 residential houses, two kitchens, two barns and 20 haystacks belonging to 15 different owners were torched in Pirganj’s Majhipara, it said, adding that an ‘unruly crowd’ has been identified as the cause of fire.
The fire service received a report of the fire at 8.45pm and finally put it out by 4.10am, the report said.
The arson incident occurred amid rising communal tension over an alleged blasphemy incident at a Durga Puja venue in Cumilla which led to attacks on Hindu temples and clashes between vandals and the police in Cumilla, Chandpur, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban, Moulvibazar, Gazipur, Chapainawabganj, Feni and other districts.
Dozens of people have been arrested over the attacks and the spread of communal hatred on social media, the report said.
(With inputs from PTI)