Mayesha, daughter of Mujibur Rahman, died on the scene taking a bullet fired allegedly by Abdus Sobhan, 40, in the head. Hit by four bullets fired apparently by the elite force, Sobhan also died instantly.

Police seized two US-made 7.65 bore pistols, two magazines, four bullets and two bullet casings from Sobhan after the 15-minute shootout.

Tipped off about Sobhan's illegal underworld trade, two members of Rab-2 battalion contacted him through a source posing as potential customers of the pistols, Rab Senior Assistant Superintendent Mizanur Rahman told The Daily Star.

Agreeing to Sobhan's plan, Captain Anis and Nayek Faizul of the Rab unit went to a four-storey house of Patwari near Madartek graveyard at 4:30pm to negotiate the purchase and Sobhan led them to the attic of the building.

"As they went upstairs, the rest 11 members of the team cordoned the house," said Mizanur, also a member of the Rab team.

While Rab men were talking to him, Sobhan smelt that law-enforcers tricked him into a ploy to capture him and a larger group hemmed in the house.

In a desperate attempt to break out of the police cordon, he surprised the undercover policemen by throwing a pistol, ran down to the second floor and scaled down by pipe for cover.

"Sobhan and two other youths came out running," said Rashida Begum, a housewife of the next door house.

"Rab men cordoning the house raised an alarm and asked people to catch them," she said.

"The three opened fire on Rab men who chased them up to Baganbari Adarsha Biddyalay where Sobhan entered a blind lane, 300 yards off the house," Mobarak Hossain, a neighbourhood resident said.

"Finding no escape route at the end of the lane, Sobhan turned on his chasers and opened two shots with a pistol," a local resident said.

One of twin bullets hit Mayesha and she fell to the ground with flood gushing out of her wounds.

Rab members answered Sobhan's fire with a hail of bullets and Sobhan collapsed to the ground, taking four bullets in the head and chest.

A witness claimed as he fell down, an angry Rab member raced to him and fired a bullet at close range. Other members of the elite force fired a hail of blank shots into the air to give the impression of a major firefight.

One of Sobhan's accomplices, aged about 27 and clad in black trousers and a yellow T-shirt, entered Mobarak's house and Rab men dragged him out of the house and took him into their custody, witnesses said.

Another accomplice melted into a narrow lane amid chaos and confusion, they said.

But Mizanur denied arresting or picking up anyone from the scene.

In the wake of the firefight, Mayesha's mother Mahfuza Begum retrieved her from the spot and rushed her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

"On hearing three gunshots, I rushed to close the door and found a man shooting with a firearm standing near our door. Filled with terror, I closed the door quickly," Mahfuza told The Daily Star at the hospital.

"A few minutes later I heard to my horror what a neighbour called out to me -- Mayesha was injured."

As Mahfuza dashed out of the house looking for her daughter, she saw a man lying dead in front of their house and Mayesha lying a few yards with blood splattered all over.

"We watched a movie (on television) together and she went out saying she would play near our house," she said, bursting into tears.

"We came from our home village in Homna, Comilla yesterday. I could have saved my girl had not I arrived in the cursed city."

Police and Rab members alleged Sobhan was long involved in illegal arms trading. "A man from Sonargaon in Narayanganj, he was under our watch for long," Mizanur said.

"We have specific information linking him to the arms trade and we'll find it out whether he was involved with any arms syndicate."

Sabujbagh police said they sent the body of Sobhan, who lived in Meradiya in Khilgaon, at 10:00pm for autopsy. But morgue sources said they did not get the body until 11:45 last night.