Man killed in 'gunfight’ with police

Yet another man was killed in what the members of police called a gunfight in Fulgazi upazila of Feni district on Friday night.

The deceased is Kazi Ekram Hossain alias Saiful, 28, a resident of Pathannagar village of Chhagalnaiya upazila in Feni.

Ten more including eight members of police sustained injuries in the incident, police claimed.

Police said a local gang of criminals regularly extorted from a brick field near GM Haat Bazar area in the upazila.

Upon receiving the allegation from the owner of the brick field , a team of police consisting of sub inspector Selim Ullah and constable Abul Khayer went there on a motorcycle, according to police.

At one stage, a gang of 10-12 criminals attacked the policemen with sharp weapons.

Locals rushed to the scene as they cried out, criminals left the scene leaving two policemen injured. Locals rescued and got them admitted at Feni sadar hospital. A case was filed in connection with the incident.

Police of Fulgazi and Chhagalnaiya jointly conducted a raid in Pathannagar village of Chhagalnaiya on Friday night and detained some Ekram, Yunus Ali and Emdadul. The detained persons were first taken to Chhagalnaiya police station and later to Fulgazi police station. 

Fulgazi police station officer-in-charge Muhammad Humayun Kabir said police along with the detained persons and as per their information conducted a drive around 4:00am to arrest other members of the gang and recover arms.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, other criminals opened fire at police, prompting them to fire back, triggering a gunfight which left three criminals and eight police members wounded, the police official claimed.

Later, the bullet hit criminals were taken to Feni sadar hospital, where physicians declared Ekram dead.

Ekram was accused in 12 different cases filed with Fulgazi and Chhagalnaiyya police stations in Feni. 

Eight police members were also admitted in Fulgazi upazila health complex, police officials said.

Prothom Alo, however, could not verify the police’s version of the incident independently as no version of the incident was available immediately either from any witnesses or from any member of the victim's family.