Three alleged criminals, among them one suspected of being member of banned Islamist militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were killed in three separate incidents of ‘gunfights’ with Rab and police in Gaibandha, Dhaka and Gazipur early Thursday.
In Gaibandha, an unidentified member of JMB was killed in a ‘gunfight’ between his associates and police at Malancha village in Gobindaganj upazila early Thursday. Police sources said tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive at the village around 1 am. Sensing the presence of police, the JMB men opened fire to them prompting the law enforcers to retaliate, triggering a gunfight.
At one stage, the JMB men managed to flee the scene. Later, police recovered the body of an unidentified JMB man and recovered some local weapons and bombs from the spot.
The JMB men were holding a clandestine meeting at the house of one Jahangir, said Mozammel Haque, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj Police Station. In the capital, an alleged mugger was killed in a ‘gunfight’ between his associates and members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Rampura area.
Abdul Karim, operation officer of RAB-3, said local people caught Kamal Pervez, 35, an alleged mugger and resident of Uttara Azampur area, from in front of Taltala Market in the city’s Khilgaon along with a pistol and two rounds of bullet while fleeing after snatching gold ornaments from a woman around 3 pm on Wednesday.
Later he was handed over to RAB-3. Following the statement of Kamal, the elite force launched a drive with him to arrest his associates in Rampura Balur Math area, where his gang distributed the share of looted money, around 1 am. Sensing the presence of the elite force, the associates of Kamal opened fire to RAB, prompting the law enforcers to fire back, triggering a gunfight. Kamal was caught in the line of fire and injured.
He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
In another incident, an alleged leader of a doper gang was killed in a reported gunfight between his cohorts and members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Protyasha Bridge area in Tongi of Gazipur district early Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Nazrul,25. Major Shoyeb, deputy commander of RAB-1, said a team of the elite force was on duty at a check post set up in the area at about 1:45am. When a suspicious motorcycle was crossing the check post, on-duty RAB members signaled it to stop.
However, three criminals riding the motorcycle opened fire to the elite force, prompting them to retaliate, triggering a gunfight. At one stage, Nazrul was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot while his two other associates managed to flee the scene. Later, the RAB members recovered the body from the spot.
Rab members also recovered one pistol and two rounds of bullet.
