The slain Rab men were identified as Deputy Assistant Director Humayun Kabir and Constable Phool Mia. Both of them were members of the intelligence wing of Rab-11 unit.

The bodies of Humayun and Phool, who had been in Rab on deputation from the Bangladesh Navy and police respectively, were found lying in a hut at a brick field around 3:30pm at Salehpur, 2 kilometres off the Dhaka-Aricha highway to the east.

Commander Masuq Hassan Ahmed, a Rab director of its legal and media wing, confirmed the incident and said a large number of their forces from five battalions have already swung into action to track down the killers.

The Rab personnel have kept the crime scene cordoned off and rounded up about 200 people for interrogation. Later around 160 of those were released.

Humayun Kabir, a senior chief petty officer of the navy, and Phool Mia were standing near Salehpur bridge in plainclothes around 3:00pm yesterday as part of their intelligence duty when they fell into a trap of the assailants.

Some unidentified people met them there and took them to Tara Mia's Brick Field by Bangshi river in the name of giving important secret information.

Taking them inside a hut there, the assailants blindfolded Humayun and Phool, tied up their hands and legs, put gun barrels in their mouths and shot them dead, said Rab sources.

Talking to reporters, workers of the brick kiln said they saw five to six people dragging two persons to the hut and after a short while they heard gunshots.

Hearing the shots, a woman who was cooking for the workers ran to the scene. She raised a cry as she found the bodies lying in a pool of blood.

Tajul Islam alias Tara Mia, owner of the brick kiln, called Savar police immediately. But he along with his manager fled the scene, seeing hundreds of Rab personnel rushing there.

"We saw two men being dragged away, but as they were in plainclothes, we couldn't get that they were Rab men," one of the workers said.

A Rab source said the two did not have any firearms or wireless.

Savar police said both Humayun and Phool were dead by the time people discovered their bullet-ridden bodies inside the hut surrounded by a large number of brick kilns.

On information, other Rab personnel rushed to the spot and raided the whole area. They recovered two casings of bullets and a mobile phone from there.

The victims' bodies were kept at the crime scene till filing of this report at 10:30pm last night.

A temporary police camp has been set up at the crime scene.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Superintendent Abdul Momin has been tasked with the investigation of the incident.

Humayun Kabir hailed from Barisal and his family lives in Chittagong.

Phool Mia, who hailed from Sariakandi in Bogra, used to live with his family beside Rab-11 office in Savar.

Learning about the incident, Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad and top Rab officials including Director General Hasan Mahmud Khondoker visited the crime scene yesterday evening.