A criminal was killed early yesterday in “crossfire” during a shootout between his accomplices and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel in the city’s Holan area under Dakshinkhan Police Station.
Meanwhile, a regional leader of an outlawed party was also killed in a “shootout” between his cohorts and police at Fulbari of Damurhuda upazila in Chuadanga.
The criminal was identified as Syed Mohammad Shihab, 35, leader of “Shihab Group”. The outlaw was identified as Farid Hossain, 35, regional commander of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML).
Rab-1 officials said they arrested Shihab at the city’s Badda area around 8:00pm Thursday and following his confessional statement a Rab team along with Shihab went to Holan to recover hidden arms.
When they reached the spot around 2:00am yesterday, the accomplices of Shihab opened fire on the team forcing Rab to retaliate. This triggered a firefight that lasted 15 minutes, a Rab official said, adding, “Shihab was caught in the crossfire and killed on the spot.”
Rab also recovered a pistol, a revolver and a number of bullets from the scene but Shihab’s accomplices managed to escape.
Police said Shihab was wanted in 15 cases, including six murder cases. His elder brother Syed Shahin told UNB that Shihab was on bail in all the cases filed against him.
Our Kushtia correspondent reports: Following information about a number of cadres of PBCP holding a meeting at Fulbari, police went to the spot around 2:30am yesterday.
Sensing the presence of police, the cadres opened fire on police forcing them to return fire, police said. According to police, the cadres fired around 25-30 shots while police fired 24.
Police recovered the body of Farid at the spot after the cadres fled. They also recovered a locally-made gun and five cartridges.
Police claimed Farid was accused in a dozen cases including cases filed in connection with murder, extortion and robbery.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News, Bangladesh Politics
