Abdar Faruque, joint secretary of Jessore BNP, came under attack by unidentified criminals at around 10:15pm when he was returning home by a rickshaw, witnesses said.

A four-member medical board declared him dead when the BNP leader was taken to the operation theatre of Jessore General Hospital.

This was the third attack on Abdar Faruque, who was also a central leader of Jubo Dal and former chairman of Noapara Union Parishad. He had survived the first armed attack in front of his residence in 1997 and a bomb attack near Jessore Polytechnic Institute in 2001.

High officials of joint forces, Rapid Action Battalion and the police visited the spot soon after the murder.

OC MA Matin of Jessore Kotwali Police Station said the murder might be a sequel to previous enmity.

Jessore Police Super Iqbal Bahar said five special teams of law enforcing agencies have launched a hunt for the killers.

However, none was arrested in this connection as of last night.