January

Seven people were killed in bomb explosions at a traditional fair in a remote village in Shakhipur, Tangail on January 17.

Police beat AKM Raquib Hasan, a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader accused in criminal cases, to death at Barasat union of Terokhada upazila in Khulna January 19.

Armed miscreants slaughtered five people inside a Mazar (shrine) at Begungram village under Kalai in Joypurhat on January 20.

February

Goons knifed to death two policemen and seriously injured another one near Itagachha police outpost in Satkhira February 5.

Masked gunmen killed the vice-president of Rajshahi District BNP Abdul Wahed Mondol, only yards away from a police outpost February 7. Agitated people then chased the police alleging gross negligence to duty, laid a siege to the outpost and set fire, leaving some 25 people including five policemen injured.

A former Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader and his friend who had lived abroad were murdered at Dhanmondi February 10.

Gunmen shot dead the vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Sabbir Alam Khondokar, in front of his Masdair residence February 18.

Armed robbers shot dead Petrobangla GM's wife in her flat in Uttara February 28.

March

Unidentified men chopped to death a farmer and raped three members of his family including his wife and sister-in-law March 9 at Korompur village of Jatrapur in Bagerhat.

Two police constables were killed and two others severely injured in a bomb attack by unidentified assailants near Sheikhpara branch of Janata Bank at Sonadanga in Khulna March 11.

April

School student Bina Rani Mondol, 17, committed suicide April 16, to spare herself the indignity of being teased by some youth for long.

The officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police station, Saud Islam, was charged with murder following death of Army sergeant Mohammad Azimul Awal who was severely beaten up at Sangsad Bhaban area on April 9. Later Awal died at the Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka.

An advisor to the caretaker government of 1991, Abul Khayer Musa was stabbed to death by his son at their Gulshan residence April 24.

Armed assailants murdered six BNP workers at Naidighee village of Atrai in Naogaon April 25.

Two constables were killed in armed attacks allegedly by operatives of the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) in Bagerhat April 27.

Thirteen alleged dacoits were lynched and two others injured by a mob of villagers at Bhaluka in Mymensingh April last.

Police rescued two-and-a-half-year old Tonni May 10, abducted from Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) April 12.

Sixteen people were sentenced to death, three to life term and one to seven years in prison in the Sutrapur double murder case. The two young men -- Mohammad Mohsin and Mohammad Saem -- were killed and sliced into six pieces each on September 15, 2000.

May

Two police detectives and an alleged criminal were killed in a shootout at a hotel at Malibagh Chowdhurypara May 14.

A police constable was gunned down and some others including a sub-inspector were injured during a shootout with criminals in front of Azad Cinema hall in the old part of the city May 18.

Wife of former deputy speaker Humayun Khan Panni was strangulated at her Dhanmondi residence by unknown assailants May 19.

A wealthy businessman who survived two previous attempts on his life was gunned down along with his bodyguard at Palashpur in Shyampur May 29.

June

A sub-inspector of police and an alleged criminal were killed during a shootout at Agargaon June 1.

Armed robbers looted Tk 6.5 from a Pubali Bank branch near Rmapura Bazaar and also stripped two customers of over Tk 1.6 lakh in broad day light June 3.

Masked assailants killed a former lawmaker and injured one of his companions at Lalpur in Natore June 7.

Unidentified assailants killed a BCL leader in an apparent revenge attempt that also left a physically challenged young man dead in Kallyanpur at Mirpur June 16.

Police recovered over one lakh bullets of Chinese rifles and powerful explosives weighing 120 kg from an abundant truck and a political worker's house at Jogarpara village in Kahalu in Bogra June 23.

July

A motor cyclist physician Mohammad Shajahan Ali was hit by a car in front of Sobhanbagh mosque and dragged for more than a kilometer as his leg got angled in the car's bumper on July 1.

Gunmen of the outlawed PBCP killed two policemen of the Rupsha Police Station at the crowded Bamandanga Bazaar, only yards from a police camp July 3.

An AL leader, Abdus Samad Khan, 50, was gunned down at Pallabi July 11.

A wedding reception party turned into a mayhem when unidentified gunmen opened fire inside a community centre, killing a woman and wounding at least 12 at Kazipara July 19.

Businessman Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury was abducted in Chittagong July 22. Not to speak of rescue, police could not even trace his whereabouts as yet.

August

Millionaire businessman Rezaur Rahman alias Zakir, 42, was abducted and later killed August 9.

Khulna AL president Monzurul Imam was killed in a spray of bullets and bomb blast by assailants August 25. His assistant and the puller of the rickshaw he was travelling also succumbed to their wounds later.

September

Pirates chopped four fishermen to death in Chair Nizam after abducting them from Latakhali September 2, dumped the bodies in the hull of a trawler and sank it into a river at Manpura in Bhola.

Khulna city AL leader Kamrul Islam Kutu was killed and at least 12 others were seriously injured in a bomb attack by unidentified assailants in front of his party office September 6.

A man was bludgeoned to death and 10 others injured by the members of Hizbut Touhid on September 26 for protesting activities of the Islamic militants at Pagla in Narayanganj.

At least 32 opposition activists, largely women, were injured when police used batons to break up demonstrations in Dhaka during the Awami League called countrywide down-to-dusk hartal that virtually crippled life in the capital and elsewhere on September 27.

Ruling BNP adherents attacked leaders and workers of the main opposition Awami League and foiled a human chain they were trying to form at Sadarghat as part of its campaign to save the Buriganga river September 29.

October

Train service was totally snapped across the country for seven hours as railway employees went on a wildcat strike, protesting the murder of a guard on a train in Chittagong, allegedly by smugglers October 1.

At least 50 teachers were injured when police clubbed procession of Bangladesh Shikkhak Karmachari Front (BKSF) in the capital October 1.

At least 50 unemployed and diploma student nurses were injured as police clubbed those gathering to stage sit in at the Directorate of Nursing Services (DNS) office in Motijheel October 16.

Three including a union parisad (UP) member were gunned down at Nayanagar Bazaar in Uttara October 18.

A police source was killed and his body sliced in 18 pieces and wrapped in polybags inside a large nylon bag was dumped near a hospital at Maghbazar October 19.

A young man, Shakil Ahmed Chowdhury Sumon, was allegedly tortured in custody by Khilgaon police on October 25. The officer-in-charge and all officials were transferred following the charges from the victim's family.

Police recovered four AK 47 rifles, two revolvers, 20 hand grenades, four time bombs, huge amount of ammunition of AK 47 rifle and explosives at Kuril Badda in the city November 30.

November

Eleven members of a Hindu family, including a four-day-old baby, were burnt to death as alleged robbers set their house in a remote village at Banskhali in Chittagong on fire November 19.

A Jubo League leader and at least five of his family members suffered burn injuries after alleged cadres of the JCD set fire to their house at Rajpasha of Shakherhat in Jhalokati November 21.

Unidentified assailants gunned down in a second attempt in less than 24 hours a ward unit Jubo League leader at a city hospital November 22.

December

Local mobs in South Char Clerk, Urir Char, Munshi Hat and Bayar Char in Noakhali lynched 37 alleged jungle bandits from December 7 to 11.

An accused in the Chittagong business magnet Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury abduction case died in police custody, six hours after he was remanded, December 11.

Armed assailants shot and killed a stranded Pakistani trader and his teenage son barging into their house at a camp in Pallabi December 20.

Assailants hacked to death Lalmonirhat District AL organising secretary Shamsul Islam Suruj, 50, near Chandbari bazar of Aditmari December 22.

Verdicts

The tribunal for Acid Crime Control, Chittagong sentence Mohammad Alamgir to death in the first verdict under the Acid Crime Control Act, 2002.

Four Islami Chhatra Shibir cadres were sentenced to death and four to life imprisonment, for killing Principal Gopal Krisna Muhuri in Chittagong. Muhuri was shot dead at his Jamal Khan residence in the city, on November 16.

A DCC commissioner and a listed criminal were sentenced to death and 13 others to life term in the sensational Advocate Habibur Rahman Mondol murder case.

A speedy trail tribunal awarded death senescence to Sumon and life imprisonment to his uncle Halim and friend Nasier, under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act in the sensational Fahima rape case, June 23.

A speedy trail tribunal on June 29 sentenced three persons to death and five to life imprisonment for killing Sabequn Nahar Sony, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Sony died in crossfire between two groups at the BUET campus on June 8, 2002.

A tribunal in Dhaka on June 30 sentenced three persons to death and one to life imprisonment in its verdict on the killing of Rushdania Islam Bushra, a college student, at her bedroom in Rampura.

A tribunal court in Dhaka on July 2 sentenced to death the brother-in-law of Don for killing the five year-old child.

A court in Dhaka on July 3 sentenced Kamal Pasha, one of the 23 top criminals listed by police, to death for killing two brothers within 30 minutes of each other in Mohammadpur on May 5, 2000.

The speedy Trail Tribunal-1 Dhaka on July 5 sentenced two persons to death and two others to life imprisonment in the baby Ratna murder case. Ratna was murdered inside an under construction building at Sabujbagh on August 8, 2002.

A speedy Trial Tribunal in Dhaka on July 8 sentenced five to death for killing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader Mizanur Rahman Mizan at Rampura on May 29 previous year.

A court in Dhaka on July 29 sentenced three people to death for killing an engineer Humayun Kabir in 1999.

Four muggers accused of killing a two-year-old child Marian Islam Naushin previous year received life sentenced from a court in Dhaka July 30.

Former depurty mayor of Dhaka Jahangir Mohammad Adel and the four other accused in the murder of Awami League leader Mohammad Kamal Hossain, were acquitted from the charges by the first Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's court on July 31.

The Speedy Tribunal-3 sentenced Khwaja Habibullah alias Habib, BNP leader and commissioner of ward 57 of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), and two others to 27 years in prison each for illegally possessing firearms, on August 2.

A court in Feni on August 10 sentenced to life imprisonment former AL lawmaker and alleged godfather of the crime prone Feni district Joinal Abedin Hazari and his accomplice Farooq Hossain Mridha in an arms case.

A tribunal sentenced six of the seven accused in the sensational Shazneen Tasnim Rahman rape case to death on September 2. Shazneen was raped and killed at her Gulshan residence on the night of April 23, 1998.

The Speedy Trail Tribunal-3,Dhaka Division jailed Killer Abbas, one of the top 23 listed criminals, for life for possessing illegal firearms and ammunition on September 23.

A court in Dhaka sentenced two muggers to death and another to life in prison for beating sergeant Ahad Parvez to death on duty in 1999.

A tribunal in Dhaka on December 23 sentenced five extortionists to death and two to life imprisonment after convicting them of killing two brothers in a toll motivated incident in Mirpur two years ago.