Two personnel of the elite crime-busting unit were slightly wounded as they took bullets in the gunfight that erupted at 5:00am and ran through 11:00am Thursday, Rab sources said. The two sides traded some 1,000 bullets during the shootout.

The others dead are Milon Dutta, 40, and his brother Khelon Dutta alias Bapon, 38, Abdus Sukkur, 25, Shahid, 27, Abdul Kader, 27, Munna, 21, Anil Dutta, 30, Selim, 20, and Jamal alias Sumon, 19, Rab and police sources said.

The latest killings raised to 13 the number of deaths in the custody of or in shootouts with Rab since it launched operations in Chittagong in April.

The anticrime force seized a 762-mm AK-56 rifle, two .303 rifles, two foreign double-barrel breech-loading (DBBL) guns, an SBBL gun, a sophisticated shotgun, 340 bullets, 50 cartridges, commando jackets and travel bags.

Jan-e-Alam was wanted in 37 criminal cases filed against him and his gang members on charges of murders, rape, abduction and extortion, Rab and police sources said.

The news of the death of Jan-e-Alam and his gangsters prompted hundreds of people to flock to the scene of the shootout, while processions were brought out to greet the Rab members, witnesses said.

Commander of Rab, Chittagong unit, Lt Col Kazi Emdadul Huq told The Daily Star, "We were trying to arrest listed criminal Jan-e-Alam and his operatives since we launched our operations here. But on receipt of secret information we launched the predawn raid on his hideout on Thursday".

"Jan-e-Alam and his gangsters died on the spot during the shootout with us," the Rab commander added.

Local sources said Jan-e-Alam and his goons engaged Anil Dutta, reportedly a rickshawpuller, as watchman while they were hiding into a house owned by a local molasses trader Arun Dey Wednesday midnight to evade arrest.

Backed allegedly by a ruling BNP stalwart of Chittagong, Jan-e-Alam also ran for elections for the post of ward commissioner in Raozan municipal polls slated for October 6, Rab and police sources said. They added he used to run election campaigns from his hideout.

Rab earlier had made several abortive attempts to catch the notorious criminal and his gang. From September 26 when he began to campaign for the polls, three undercover Rab teams started watching his activities. The teams eventually came to know about the whereabouts of Jan-e-Alam and his gang and Rab members cordoned off the house of Arun Dey at the hilly village of Kalampati at 4:30am.

Being aware of the presence of Rab at 5:00am, Jan-e-Alam and his associates started firing at random, prompting Rab men to retaliate. At one stage, Rab members fired teargas canisters into the hideout. Jan-e-Alam was gunned down as he came out of the hideout during the firefight, Rab sources said.

Golam Akbar Khandakar, Chittagong North Unit president of the BNP, said, "We are very happy at the death of Jan-e-Alam and his gangsters. They did not belong to the BNP. They were loyal to leaders who joined the BNP in 1996."

A resident of Kalampati village, who was once victimised by Jan-e-Alam and his men, said, "It is now the talk of the whole Raozan and everyone is happy here at his death. Like me, many others suffered as he and his accomplices unleashed a reign of terror here."

13 KILLED IN CTG
Rab launched its operations in Chittagong in April this year and as many as 13 people have been killed either in its custody or shootouts with it here.

Thursday's killing of 10 people in Raozan saw the highest numbers of casualties in a Rab raid at a single encounter.

Earlier, a madrasa teacher of Chandpur, identified as Titu, was killed at Agrabad in the port city during Rab operations.

Top terrorist and local UP chairman Ahmedul Huq Chowdhury alias Ahmedya, who in August joined the BNP from Jamaat-e-Islami, was killed along with his accomplice Minhaz in Rab custody during a shootout.

From cowboy to criminal Death of notorious criminal Jan-e-Alam alias Jainnya along with nine accomplices has apparently brought a sigh of relief to people of Kalampati of Dabua union as well as of the entire Raozan upazilaand

Death toll in Rab operations climbs to 27 The death toll in Rab action, in its custody and during 'crossfire', rose to 27 with Thursday's 10 killings in Chittagong.