Assailants with apparent ties to an outlawed outfit smashed the head of Mohammad Abdul Baten, 50, president of Bagerhat district Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal and former chairman of Mongla Pourasabha near his Madrassa Road house at about 8:00pm.

Witnesses said the attackers hurled a potent bomb at his head from a running motorcycle when he was returning home from Mongla BNP office alone. They fled the scene shouting slogans in favour of the Janajuddha faction of Purba Banglar Communist Party, blamed for a series of high-profile killings.

Baten was the first elected chairman of Mongla Pourasabha and held the office for 18 years in a row. He was also president of Mongla upazila BNP, the leader of the ruling coalition.

TENSION RUNS HIGH

The killing of Baten stoked angry protests and tension in the port town of Mongla, at the southern part of the southwestern region, dubbed as the valley of death for outlaw violence.

As the news of his death spread, hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets and incensed BNP activists attacked Mongla Police Station and local office of the main opposition Awami League.

The protesters wrecked at least 50 vehicles and damaged a number of shops in a mayhem that shut port activities.

The demonstrators also put up barricades on the Khulna-Mongla Highway, cutting road links of the port town with the divisional headquarters.

High police officials from Khulna and Bagerhat rushed to the scene and reinforcements of police, Bangladesh Rifles and ansars were dispatched to Mongla and Bagerhat to restore order.

Baten's body was kept at Saint Paul's Hospital in Mongla.