DHAKA, May 5 (Reuters) - At least seven people drowned and 20 were missing in a river near Bangladesh's capital after clashes between picnickers and police, witnesses said on Saturday.

They said fighting broke out between two groups during a picnic party outside Dhaka on Friday evening, and the violence escalated when police intervened.

Many jumped into the Buriganga river to escape the battle.

Fire brigade divers searched the river through the night and retrieved seven bodies, but at least 20 others were still missing.

Grieving friends at Dhaka's Sadarghat river terminal told reporters the picnickers were initially attacked by a group of unidentified people who had come ashore on a ferry.

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