6 killed in ‘gunfights’ with law enforcers

Six people, including a Rohingya youth, were killed in what the law enforcement agencies claimed gunfights in Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, Mymensingh, Khulna and Cumilla.

In Dhaka, Hazrat Ali was killed in a fight with police around 2:15am in Jatrabari’s Targendaria, said Kazi Wazed Ali, in-charge of the local police station, reports UNB.

In Cox’s Bazar, two people, including a Rohingya youth, were killed in separate ‘gunfights’ with Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh troopers in Teknaf upazila on early Friday.

RAB and BGB identified them as Nurul Alam, 37, son of Buijja, who was residing at Musuni Rohingya camp in Teknaf, and Md Belal Hossain, 25, son of Sirjul Islam, from GM Hat area in Lakshmipur.

Alam, accused in a case filed over the plundering firearms from an Ansar Camp at Noyapara in the district, was killed in an alleged gunfight with RAB in Damdamia around 4:00am, claimed RAB-15 company commander Mirza Shahed Mahtab.

In another incident, Belal was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with BGB troopers in Katabania area around 5:00am, said Asaduzzaman, commander of BGB-2.

BGB recovered 9,000 pieces of yaba pills from the site, he said, adding that Belal was accused in seven drug-related cases.

In Cumilla, Md Al-Amin was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police in Darikandi area in Titas upazila early Friday.

He was a resident of Noyagaon village of the upazila.

Police said they arrested Al-Amin on Thursday afternoon along with Tk 1500,000, after a case was filed alleging that a gang of robbers, including Al-Amin, had looted Tk 5800,000 from five bKash agents in the morning.

A joint team of Titas police and Detective Branch conducted a drive at Titas upazila’s Darikandi area with Al-Amin around 3:45am. When the team arrived there, robbers attacked them and tried to snatch Al-Amin. They opened fire, triggering a gunfight.

DB sub-inspector Shahidul Islam said Al-Amin was hit by a bullet during the fight. “The physicians pronounced him dead when we took him to Comilla Medical College Hospital,” he said.

In Mymensingh, Abdur Rashid, 50, was killed in a ‘gunfight’ between police and his cohorts at Trishal bus terminal, said DB officer-in-charge Shah Kamal Akand.

In Khulna, Masud Kamal Rana, 35, a suspected drug trader, was killed in an alleged gunfight with police in Nirala area of the city around 4:00am, said Maniruzzaman Mithu, the district’s deputy police commissioner.

Masud, who was injured during the gunfight, was pronounced dead when he was taken to Khulna Medical College Hospital, he said.

Prothom Alo, however, could not verify the law enforcement’s version of the incident independently as no version of it was available immediately either from any witness or from any member of the victim’s family.