A man was killed and two others were injured in a clash between police and a group of villagers in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong last night.

The dead is Saiful Islam, 22, son of Shamsul Alam of Telipara village under Bhatiari union.

A team of plainclothes policemen went to the village to detain some criminals around 9:00pm. The clash broke out as the villagers tried to stop the law enforcers from making the arrests, said locals.

“Suddenly, the criminals tried to escape. At one point, police opened fire, leaving one dead and two injured," Nazim Uddin, chairman of Bhatiari Union Parishad, told The Daily Star.

Later, the villagers blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong highway near the village for an hour in protest. They left after the chairman assured them of justice, said locals.

The injured were identified as Imran, 19, and Kabir Ahmed, 55, of the same village.

A police official in Chittagong, wishing anonymity, confirmed that the law enforcers went to the village in plainclothes to detain some criminals. However, he refused to give details of the incident before investigation.

Police deployed at the outpost of Chittagong Medical College Hospital said three people were taken to the hospital after the clash.

Doctors declared one of them dead, said Hamidur Rahman, one of the law enforcers at the outpost.