A 25-member gang abducted Akkas, Awal, Aftab and Mojnu from Garulia village under Ataikula upazila at about 11:00pm when they were watching TV. They took them to Modongari Beel and slaughtered them, police said.

The Saturday's killings may have link with an incident at Laxmipur village opposite the beel, where outlaws hacked to death five fishermen on November 19 last year, police suspected.

Police sent the bodies to Pabna General Hospital for autopsy yesterday.

Mohammad Anisur Rahman, deputy inspector general of police, Rajshahi range, and Ameer Uddin, superintendent of police, Pabna, visited the crime scene yesterday.

Akkas' brother Abdus Sattar filed a case with Ataikula Police Station.

In another incident, armed miscreants shot dead Runa Khatun, wife of Alam Ali, at Beelbhaduri village under Pabna Sadar upazila.

Claiming themselves to be police, a 10-member gang entered the house of Runa's father at about 1:45pm and shot her while she was sleeping.

Runa came to visit her father's house from her husband's at Charghata in Rajshahi.

The murder may be a sequel to previous enmity, police suspected.

Runa's mother Shahana Khatun lodged a case with Pabna Sadar Police Station.