11 killed in mass beating, gunfight in Bangladesh

Cox's Bazar, April 26: Ten suspected robbers were killed in a fierce gunfight with police and mass beating while a villager was shot dead by the bandits after a series of heists in two villages in the hilly Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar district early Monday.

Police superintendent Nibas Chandra Mazi said the robbers had also stabbed five people, including a woman, after barging into a house.

Ramu and Ukhia police arrested five alleged robbers and seized five guns and six rounds of bullet after the shootout.

Police and villagers said a horde of armed bandits swooped on four houses at Sadreekata village in Ukhia at dead of night and looted valuables, including about 50 tolas of gold ornaments and Tk five lakh in cash, from the houses of Nurul Alam, Syed Alam and Ola Mia.

After committing the robberies, the bandits left the village and hid in the hills in the dark of night. While fleeing through Nayapara village of Ramu, they were spotted by the locals who started shouting and chasing the robbers.

In a bid to scare away the villagers, the bandits opened fire which left Jasim Uddin, 30, dead on the spot. Jasim Uddin, who worked in Saudi Arabia had come home recently on holiday, said relatives.

Hundreds of villagers along with the Ukhia police ringed the hill in which the robbers hid.

In a desperate attempt to escape, the robbers once again opened fire prompting the police to retaliate and in the resultant shootout, two of the robbers were killed.

More than 40 villagers and six police personnel also sustained bullet wounds during the gunfight.

Some of the robbers managed to vanish in the forest, but while they came out of their hideout after daybreak in the hilly Gorayardip village in Himchari, they were surrounded and captured by the villagers. Eight of the alleged bandits to were beaten to death on the spot by

the angry mob. Villagers stabbed by the robbers included Hasna Hena, 28, Fazlul Karim, 35, Sahidul Islam, 20, Jashim Uddin, 25, and Rafique Uddin, 18.

The police personnel who sustained bullet wounds included sub-inspector Gobinda Solka Das, constables Mosaraf, 35, Russell, 45, and Tutul, 30. The villagers injured in the firing were Abdus Salam, 30, Shafiullha, 25, Kalim Ullah, 15, Sayedullah, 28, Faridul Alam, 40, and Ershad Ullah, 25. All were admitted to Cox's Bazar sadar hospital.

Police sent the bodies to the sadar hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.

Ramu and Ukhia police backed by the Rapid Action Battalion were trying to hunt down the rest of the robbers, officials said.

Source: New Age