Witnesses said Shaikh Abdul Wahab, president of AL's Abhoynagar upazila unit, lost consciousness from chest, back and hand wounds he suffered in a hail of bullets before he could leave Shankarpasha Ferry Ghat for home by motorbike shortly after 8:00pm.

A special river transport took the 52-year-old to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) from Khulna Medical College Hospital where he was first treated.

DMCH doctors told The Daily Star that the condition of Wahab, also former upazila chairman, was critical.

The latest in a series of attacks on political leaders in the southwest triggered mob violence in Wahab's hometown of Noapara in Abhoynagar upazila that damaged scores of buses, trucks and other vehicles.

The incident also prompted businesspeople to shut their shops in response to a hartal call in Noapara yesterday and AL leader's supporters to block Khulna-Jessore Highway, disrupting traffic for hours.

The AL and its front organisations, bringing out protest processions, have threatened a tough movement in the event of police's failure to arrest attackers in 72 hours.

Police launched a combing operation in Abhoynagar to hunt down the attackers with suspected ties to an extremist outfit, said Superintendent of Police in Jessore Shahidul Islam. Three used shells of rifle bullets were seized from the scene.

Security was tightened in and around Noapara and armed guards have been deployed to the AL leader's house.

Wahab escaped the first attempt on his life by extremists on March 2, 2000. The AL leaders said the second attack came two months after the withdrawal of armed police sanctioned for his security.

His wife alleged the officer-in-charge of Abhoynagar Police Station took away a licensed gun from her husband last month without showing reason.

The shocked family linked the attack to the extremists' death threats to him for his stand against crime in Abhoynagar.