Dhaka: Unidentified assailants gunned down a local leader of the ruling Awami League in front of his family in the southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, a day after seven election and security officials were shot dead while returning from a remote polling centre.
Suresh Kanti Tanchangya, Bilaichhari upazila president of the Awami League, was gunned down around 9:30 am in Alikhong area in Rangamati district, police said.
He, along with his family, was coming to Bilaichhari on boat this morning, they said. “The miscreants intercepted a boat carrying Bilaichhari Upazila Awami League President Suresh Kanti Tanchangya and gunned him down,” Rangamati hill district’s police chief Alamgir Kabir told reporters.
He said the family members accompanying Tanchangya, a tribesman, escaped the attack unhurt but could not identify the assailants. The attack comes a day after seven people, including a presiding officer, were shot dead by unidentified gunmen who opened fire on their two jeeps as they were returning with ballot boxes after the voting concluded at a remote polling centre.
Eight people, including some policemen, were injured in the attack in Rangamati district. Army helicopters later carried 11 critically injured people to a military hospital in the neighbouring southeastern port city of Chittagong. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. (PTI)
