Outlaws kill 2 Khulna cops, throw bodies into river
Staff Correspondent, Khulna
Gunmen of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) yesterday killed two policemen of the Rupsha Police Station at the crowded Bamandanga Bazaar, only yards from a police camp.After killing Sub-Inspector (SI) Shamsul Huq and Havildar Abu Baker, the assailants carried their bodies and threw them into the Atharobaki river. They also took away the motor cycle of the SI, shouting slogans in favour of the PBCP, witnesses said. Policemen from the Shiali Police Camp took 15 minutes to come to the spot, only to see the killers had already escaped, local people said. With yesterday's murders, six cops had been killed in the last four months in Khulna. The armed cadres, all aged over 25, sprayed bullets with sawn-off rifles on the two policemen at about 10:30am and threatened people present at the bazaar with further attacks if they moved and raised an alarm, according to the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Rupsha Police Station and witnesses. The OC said the SI and havilder left unarmed for Bamandanga Bazaar at about 9:00am to investigate a criminal case. Locals alleged that none from the police camp came in aid of the two policemen although they screamed for help. The camp is manned by one SI, one havilder and 20 constables, eight of whom were present there at the time, they said. The OC said slain SI Shamsul Huq was instrumental in nabbing notorious armed cadre Jinnat Sheikh with a sawn-off.303 rifle and eight bullets from Nehalpur village in Rupsha upazila on Wednesday. He believes the killing might have been an act of vengeance by the PBCP. Additional police forces have been deployed at Bamandanga and Shiali villages. A number of people, particular youths, have moved to Khulna city and elsewhere, fearing police excesses in the name of combing operation. Superintendent of Police of Khulna Habibur Rahman said bodies of the slain policemen were yet to be recovered despite search by divers till 6:30pm. A pair of footwear and two used shells of bullets were recovered from the place of occurrence. Police took two persons into custody for interrogation from Fakirhat. They were seen at the bazar minutes before the killing, the OC said without disclosing their names. Meanwhile, a mobile phone shop at the bazar was sealed by the police, and the owner has gone into hiding. The killers were sitting in front of the shop before the incident, witnesses said.
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