2 pro-BNP men killed in Barisal ‘shootout’

Two pro-BNP activists were killed in a "gunfight" with police after the law enforcers came under a firebomb attack in Agailjhara upazila of Barisal early today.

Deceased Tipu Hawlader, 30, was sports secretary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal district unit; and Kabir Mollah, 32, was a member of local Jubo Dal, our Barisal correspondent reports quoting Abaidul Haque Chand, general secretary of BNP Agailjhara upazila unit.

The duo hailed from Nagarbari village were accused in two cases filed for recent petrol bomb attacks in the district that left four people dead, said Manirul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Agailjhara Police Station.

Law enforcers arrested them in Dhaka yesterday in connection with the cases – one filed for killing three people in Gournadi upazila on February 6 and another for killing a person in Bamrail area on January 17, the correspondent reports quoting the OC.

As the police along with the arrestees were conducting a drive in Jobarpar in search of other accused in the cases, the law enforcers came under petrol bomb attack by the miscreants 'cohorts around 2:10am.

They also fired shots at the law enforcers, triggering a "gunfight" that left Kabir and Pintu dead on the spot. Later, police found their bullet-wounded bodies, the OC said.

Two policemen also sustained minor injuries in the incident. They were given primary treatment at local hospital.

"Kabir and Tipu were falsely implicated in the cases," said Chand.