A young man has died as several rounds of bullets were exchanged during an attack and a stone-pelting incident at the Air Force’s under-construction base on the west side of Cox’s Bazar Airport.
Deceased Shihab Kabir Nahid, 30, is the son of Mohammad Nasir Uddin, a senior teacher from the Samiti Para area, located next to the Air Force base.
The incident took place on Monday afternoon.
The police and witnesses said a young man, Jahid Hossain, from the nearby Kutubdia Para had an argument with a personnel at an Air Force checkpoint over the issue of wearing a helmet around 11:30 am.
Later, Jahid’s relatives arrived at the scene and started throwing stones at the under-construction Air Force base and its personnel.
This led to chases that lasted for about half an hour, during which several rounds of gunshots were heard.
Shihab Kabir Nahid sustained bullet wounds at that time. Local people rescued him and took to the emergency department of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, where physicians declared him dead.
After the news of Shihab’s death spread, local residents, armed with sticks, began heading toward the Air Force base.
Around 12:00 pm, Lutfor Rahman, former member of parliament from Cox’s Bazar-3 (Sadar, Ramu, Eidgaon) and the central secretary of Matsyajeebi Dal, an associate body of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), arrived at the scene and persuaded the crowd to disperse.
The situation, however, remains tense. An additional police force has been deployed in the area.
At about 1:30 pm, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model police station, Mohammad Elias Khan, told Prothom Alo that the situation was normal.
He mentioned that 50-60 police officers were present at the site.
The attack was reportedly triggered by an incident at the Air Force checkpoint, where a motorcyclist without a helmet was being questioned.
In a press release sent by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in the afternoon, it was said that some miscreants from Samiti Para, near the Air Force base, had launched an unprovoked attack on the base.
The Bangladesh Air Force has taken necessary actions in response, the release, signed by Ayesha Siddika, assistant director of ISPR, added.
The area around Cox’s Bazar Airport, including Samiti Para, Kutubdia Para, and 19 other villages, forms Ward No. 1 of the Cox’s Bazar Municipality.
This area is home to 70,000 residents, 90 per cent of whom are climate refugees. These people lost their homes in the devastating cyclone and tidal surge of 29 April 1991, and migrated to this area from places like Kutubdia, Pekua, and Maheshkhali.
In recent years, an Air Force base has been under construction in parts of this area. For the displaced residents, a special housing project of 137 five-story buildings is being built three kilometers away in Khurushkul.
Two years ago, 600 families were resettled in 20 buildings, and 85 more buildings have now been completed. On 7 January, several thousand men and women from Ward No. 1 blocked the city’s main road, demanding an end to the evictions.
Regarding the attack on the Air Force base, the former councilor of Ward No. 1, Aktar Kamal, told Prothom Alo that there was no connection between the eviction and the attack.
He explained that the attack happened due to an incident involving Jahid, 29, from Kutubdia Para, who was questioned for not wearing a helmet.
Kamal added, “I heard that someone died from gunshots. Later, former MP Lutfor Rahman arrived at the scene and dispersed the crowd.”
Shihab’s father, Nasir Uddin, a former supervisor at Cox’s Bazar PTI, and his mother, Amena Khatun, a retired headmistress of Cox’s Bazar Government High School, live in Samiti Para.
Amena Khatun, claiming her son died from gunfire, told Prothom Alo that her son (Shihab) was standing by the door of their house when the stone-pelting occurred. Suddenly, a bullet hit his head.
She explained that the bullet struck his skull, causing his brain to spill out. Despite being rushed to the hospital, the physician declared him dead.
Sabuktgin Mahmud, the Residential Medical Officer (RMO) at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, told Prothom Alo that Shihab died within minutes of being brought to the hospital.
He confirmed that the back of Shihab’s head had been blown off by the bullet. It is still unclear whether the injury was caused by the bullet or by the impact of the stone-pelting. The body has been kept in the morgue for an autopsy.