Alleged gunfight with police kills man

Gunfight Illustration
Gunfight Illustration

A man was killed in a reported gunfight with police in Habirchhora hilly area in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar early Saturday, reports UNB.

Deceased Mohammad Hossain, 28, son of a certain Nabi Hossain was a drug trader and an accused in four cases, police said.

Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf police station, said on information about the presence of drug traders in the area, a team of police conducted a drive around 4:30am.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcement, the drug traders opened fire, forcing them to fire back that triggered the gunfight, he said.

After the gunfight, police found Hossain bullet injured.

He was taken to Teknaf upazila health complex where physicians declared him dead.

Police claimed to have recovered three locally made arms, 2000 yaba tablets and 12 cartridges from the spot.

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

According to the human rights organisation, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a total of 421 people were killed in alleged gunfights, crossfires or shootouts with the law enforcement agencies in 2018.

In January and February of 2019, the number of such killing was 50, the rights body said on its website.