Tipped off, police surrounded a house in Patibunia village in the southwestern district in the midnight and a band of NBCP cadres opened fire on law enforcers. Gopal Chandra Gayen, 38, died instantly, as police returned fire, police said.

Other gang members dodged arrest, said Habibur Rahman, superintendent of police, Khulna. Police seized a gun from the house.

Gopal was a wanted criminal in seven cases of murder and other crimes, he added.

Last month Khilgaon police arrested Kazi Shafiqul Islam Litu, second-in-command of the same underground outfit and former chairman of Bhandarpara union parishad, in Dhaka. Litu, accused in seven murder cases, is now in Khulna District Jail.

In another incident Wednesday, a mob pounded an alleged cadre of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Janajuddha) to death at Morrelganj in Bagerhat.

Tauhidul Islam Shahid, 28, was lynched when he and another alleged PBCP cadre Ali Hossain went to Teligati Bazaar to extort tolls from traders shortly before noon

Morrelganj police also retrieved a sawn-off gun and two bullets from Shahid. Ali fled the scene, locals said.