‘JMB leader’ killed in Kushtia ‘gunfight’

A regional commander of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was killed in a gunfight with law enforcers in Kushtia Sadar upazila early today, police said.
Deceased Tulu Mollah, 33, of Khajanagar village in the upazila, was a regional leader of JMB, our Kushtia correspondent reports quoting Sabbirul Islam, officer-in-charge of local Detective Police.
Police recovered a foreign made pistol, two rounds of bullets, three machetes and some cartridges from the spot, he said.
Police claimed four detectives -- Sub-Inspector Abdul Halim, Assistant Sub Inspector Abdur Rashid, constable Alim and Saiful -- were injured in the incident.
The incident took place inside a rice mill, reportedly a secret den of the outfit, the OC said.
A team of detectives rushed to the spot and cordoned it off around 3:30am after obtaining information that militants were holding a meeting there, the OC said.
Sensing presence of the policemen, the militants opened fire, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate with gunfire – that triggered the "gunfight", he said.
The detectives found Talu Mollah lying on the spot and sent him to Kushtia General Hospital where doctors declared him dead, the DB official said.
Detectives gathered the information from three JMB men Azizul Islam, Taz Uddin and Saidul during interrogation about a secret meeting by JMB for committing sabotage activities in the areas.
They arranged the meeting to hold at the abandoned rice mill owned by one Abdus Sobhan of the area, the police official said.
The three JMB men are in Kushtia jail. Police took them remand on Saturday, he added.