3 killed in ‘gunfights’ in Dinajpur, Pabna, Bagerhat

Three people -- a suspected drug dealer and two alleged robbers -- were killed in "gunfights" with police and Rab in Dinajpur, Pabna and Bagerhat's Sundarbans area until this morning from early today.

Five police and two members of Rapid Action Battalion were injured in these gunfights and took primary treatment from hospital.

In Dinajpur, suspected drug dealer Ferdous Ali (33), of Mirpur village under Birampur upazila, was killed in a "gunfight" with police around 2:30am, our district correspondent reports quoting police.

Ferdous used to smuggle drugs from India, said Md Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Birampur Police Station.

Based on information, a police team raided Mirpur village and came under attack from a gang, the OC said.

The gang opened fired from a bush, leaving three policemen wounded, he said.

In self-defence, police retaliated with gunshots, leaving Ferdous dead on the spot, the OC added.

Later, the body was sent to M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital for autopsy, police official said.

One hundred bottles of phensidyl, a pipe gun with three rounds of bullets and several sharp weapons were recovered from the spot, he said.  

Three injured policemen -- ASI Shahjahan, ASI Niranjan Roy and Constable Delwar Hossain -- received treatment at Birampur Upazila Health Complex, said the OC.

In Pabna, Md Sarwar Hossain (36), a suspected ring leader of a robber gang, was killed in a "gunfight" with the police at Shamukjani Bazar area in Santhia upazila around 2:00am.

Two cops were injured during the gunfight while law enforcers recovered fire arms and ammunitions from the spot, our Pabna correspondent reports quoting police.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Santhia police along with DB raided Shamukjani Bazar where the robbers took position, Goutam Kumar Bishwas, additional superintendent of police (ASP) in Pabna said.

Sensing their presence, the robbers opened fire, prompted police to retaliate -- triggering a gunfight for 20 minutes, the ASP said.

During the gunfight, Sarwar received bullet injury while other criminals managed to flee, the police official said.

He was rushed to Pabna Medical College Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead, he said.

In Bagerhat, a robber was killed during a gunfight with the elite force members inside Sundarbans, according to Rab.

Deceased Faruque Morol, 35, was the ring leader of robber group -- locally known as Faruque bahini, our Bagerhat correspondent reports quoting Lt Col Rawshawul Firoz, commanding officer (CO) of Rab-6.

The gunfight ensued when a gang of robbers opened fire on a Rab team patrolling in the forest under Chandpai Range around 8:00am, the CO said.  

The robber and two Rab men were injured during the gunfight, Lt Col Rawshawul said.  

They were taken to the local upazila health complex where doctors declared him dead. 

Rab men taken three persons to the hospital and one of them, who suffered bullet wounds, declared "brought dead", said Molay Mollick, medical officer of the health complex.