Police said the assailant could only tell his name--Shaon, 24, before dying. They could not give any details about him immediately.

Witnesses said a gang of five to six assailants sprayed bullets on Sagir, 38, soon after he along with his six-year-old son Tousif came out of Sonamiah Alfalah Jame Masjid, about 60 yards off his Nasir Uddin Sarder Lane residence in Sutrapur, after Juma prayers.

"The criminals pushed Tousif down on the road and shot 10-12 bullets on Sagir point blank at about 1:30pm," said an employee of a nearby salon who witnessed the incident. Sagir came out of the mosque a little earlier in order to look after the activities going on in his house in observance of the third death anniversary of his mother.

"Hearing the gunshots, I peeped through the window and found Sagir lying in a pool of blood on the road," said Shihab, a local youth.

Soon locals and devotees chased the assailants who started running through the alleys and got on two motorbikes parked nearby.

The killers were fleeing through the Raishaheb Bazar intersection where a patrol police team intercepted them. Havilder Rafiqul Islam of Kotwali Police Station received bullets in the abdomen as the killers opened fire on the police team. Rafiqul was operated upon at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

Soon other policemen and members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) patrolling nearby fired back on the assailants and Shaon received two bullets in the head and died on the spot. A pistol and a magazine loaded with five bullets were seized from the spot, police said.

Mystery shrouds the death of Shaon as locals said he was caught unhurt when he was fleeing after shooting the havilder. They said that some ruling party men gave him a mass-beating and later police and Rab men shot him point blank in the head killing him on the spot.

With bullet wounds in his head, chest and back, Sagir was rushed to the DMCH where doctors declared him dead.

LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Dhaka City Corporation Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka, Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas, and State Minister for Labour and Manpower Amanullah Aman visited the hospital to see Sagir. Several hundred Jubo Dal and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leaders and activists also thronged the DMCH.

Mannan Bhuiyan told newsmen at the hospital that whoever the killers are, they will be arrested and put to trial.

The police could not ascertain the reason behind the killing. They also could not arrest anyone and no case was filed until 8:00pm yesterday.

"We do not have any clue yet as to the reason of the murder. We do not even guess what could be the reason of the killing," Awlad Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sutrapur Police Station told The Daily Star last night.

The police said Sagir, who was vice president of the JCD for two terms, was accused in around more than a dozen cases including murders and he patronised notorious criminals of Sutrapur and Kotwali areas. Kajol and Guddu, two accused in the killing of businessman of old Dhaka Shamsul Islam and his son, were close associates of Sagir.

The police and party sources suspect that Sagir's role in forming of the JCD Jagannath University College unit, his supremacy in the area and winning tender bids might have led to the killing.

Local sources said there has been a longstanding feud between Sagir and a ruling party lawmaker over establishing supremacy in the area. However, the animosity between the two intensified over JCD Jagannath unit committee.

The sources also said Sagir-backed JCD leaders got all the posts in the committee elected on June 20.

Locals said Sagir constructed 38 gates a few months back in his locality to stop mugging in the area. Angered by the step, the local criminals might have carried out the attack, they said.

Meanwhile, Sutrapur and Keraniganj police, members of Detective Branch of Police, Rab and Criminal Investigation Department were conducting block raids in Sutrapur and Keraniganj areas since yesterday evening.

Sutrapur police said all members of the 'killing squad' were from Keraniganj. They said Shaon hailed from Kalika in Keraniganj.