Yet another cop hacked to death at checkpoint [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Yet another cop hacked to death at checkpoint

Local November 05, 2015

Assailants hacked to death a policeman and injured another in a ‘premeditated’ attack minutes before the law enforcers were setting a makeshift check post on Nabinagar-Chandra highway in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital Wednesday morning.
Industrial police constable Mukul Hossain of Bogra district was declared dead when he was brought to privately-owned Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar while constable Nur-e-Alam Siddiquei was given treatment for his injuries on the right arm.
This is a second attack on a police check post in two weeks as the acting inspector general of police, Javed Patwari, visiting the place of occurrence in the afternoon, said the murder had resemblance with the killing of assistant subinspector Ibrahim Molla near Technical intersection in the capital on October 22.
Home affairs minister Asaduzzaman Khan visited the injured at the hospital in Savar and said the recent incidents were linked to each other.

Mukul Hossain

Police investigators said the barely five-minute-long attack was carried against five armed personnel of the industrial police – specialised police dedicated to the industrial area – at roadside makeshift shops located opposite Nandan amusement park at Baraipara in Ashulia at about 7:30am.
The investigators described the attack as ‘premeditated’ by ‘little trained groups’ and said they were in hunt for the attackers who fled the crime scene by motorbike.
Ashulia’s industrial police acting director Kawser Sikder told New Age five constables of his unit— Mukul Hossain, Nur-e-Alam, Mohammad Apple, Mohammad Pinharuzzaman and Mohammad Imran — were preparing to start their duty at a regular check-post in front of Nandan Park from 8:00am.
‘They were dropped by an official bus and were getting ready for duty,’ he added.
According to witnesses, at least two assailants riding a black motorbike stopped opposite to the Nandan park and walked to the roadside makeshift shops where three constables—Mukul, Nur and Apple— were sitting inside one of the six makeshift shops.
Dhaka’s additional police superintendent Ashraful Azim told Rapid Action Battalion director general Benazir Ahmed, during his visit to the spot, that one of the two assailants greeted the police personnel and suddenly started hacking at them.
Another assailant started firing from his gun, he added.
After being hacked and stabbed on the left jaw and neck, and upper abdomen, young constable Mukul Hossain ran and collapsed inside another nearby shop while Nur, who sustained injuries on his right arm, could cross the highway and seek help from people standing on a parking lot in front of the Nandan park.
Asharaful Azim said Apple escaped the scene while the two others of the team standing nearby with firearms also ran away.

‘The whole episode went on for just five minutes,’ Azim said.
‘I found policemen running away leaving their colleague in a pool of blood…two assailants on motorbike on the wrong side of the road were brandishing firearms,’ said one of the witnesses, Farid Ahmed Rubel, a passerby who was heading toward his nearby workplace.
‘After the assailants went away, people returned, along with the policemen who ran away earlier, and we rushed the injured to a nearby hospital,’ Farid told New Age in police safe custody where he was kept as a witness, beside others.
Another witness, Rafikul Islam, who runs a small restaurant beside Nandan Park, said they heard gunshots and later saw a policeman in uniform with firearms crossing the highway seeking help.
‘The man suddenly collapsed. We took him to the van where another of his colleagues was kept. Both were rushed to hospital,’ Rafikul told New Age.
Enam Medical College Hospital physician SM Rafiqul Islam said the constable died from heavy bleeding from the stab injuries.
‘Mukul was brought dead while Nur-E-Alam was under treatment at ICU,’ he said.
He suspected both knife and machete were used in the attack but none of the victims sustained bullet wounds.
The police investigators said they were interviewing the three constables who survived the attack.
‘We are verifying their statements with statements we have from interviewing witnesses,’ said Dhaka’s senior assistant police superintendent Mohammad Russell Sheikh.
Criminal Investigation Department’s crime scene team found two empty cartridges of 7.65calibre among few other things.
Bloodstains were visible at two separates makeshift shops—one where three constables were attacked and another where Mukul took shelter after being attacked.
During the visit, RAB chief Benazir inquired how and why the ‘little-trained’ assailants managed to carry out the attack and the whereabouts of the previous team who were engaged for round-the-clock duty.
Subinspector Ekramul Hoque said he was supposed to lead the team of five young constables from 8am.
‘I reached here at 7:45am and saw the incident,’ he said.
Police officials said another team led by subinspector Habibur Rahman was supposed to hand over duty to Ekramul Hoque.
Habib told New Age he was sick and left the place before his shift was done.
The authorities later in the day suspended subinspector Habibur Rahman for negligence of duty, said police officials.
Police headquarters officials said a three-member committee led by Dhaka range additional deputy inspector general (administration and operations) Shafiqul Islam had been formed to investigate the incident.
‘We have started inquiry already,’ Shafiqul said.