& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

'Outlaws' slaughter ward commissioner

Rajshai BNP puts blame on AL

Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi
Assailants with suspected ties to the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) yesterday bludgeoned and slaughtered a municipal commissioner and ruling BNP leader in Rajshahi, police and witnesses said.
The attackers hit Anwar Hossain, ward commissioner of Durgapur municipality and joint secretary of the municipal BNP, with an iron rod before slaughtering him in an attack the local BNP
blamed on main opposition Awami League.
Witnesses said the gang of 12 came on bicycles and attacked the 34-year-old on Nargis Cinema Hall Road at about 10:00am, close to the bustling Durgapur Bazaar and 100 yards off the police station.
The operatives, holding up their guns, shouted slogans in favour of the underground outfit, blamed for a series of killings in the northwest district since September 29 last year.
Later in the day, an anonymous
person called several local journalists and claimed responsibility for the killing, identifying himself as a spokesperson for the PBCP.
"We have successfully killed Anwar. Locals hated him ... he was our class enemy," a journalist quoted the caller as telling him.
Police arrested Halim, said to have called Anwar out of home in Sapalgachhi village, took him to the town by motorbike and dropped him at the hospital crossing in the morning. Zahangir, who accompanied Halim, has been evading arrest since the murder.
Saidur Rahman Mantu, Durgapur municipal chairman and general secretary of the local BNP unit, blamed the killing on the AL without further details.
But BNP lawmaker Nadim Mustafa told The Daily Star that the killing bore the hallmarks of an attack by outlaws, adding: "Investi-
gators should look into whether the outlaws were hired."
Talking to a group of journalists at Durgapur Police Station, Superintendent of Police Masud Mia said the killers were hired. "We came to know Anwar was one of the bidders for tender on Durgapur Bazaar. We are investigating it."
The upazila BNP vicepresident, Belal Hossain, linked the killing to death threats to 15 BNP leaders including Anwar.
Ward Commissioner Ashraf Ali believes the murder was the result of a case Anwar filed against a local gang for illegal logging two months ago.
Underground operatives gunned down Abdul Hamid, a district BNP leader, in an attack that also left two of his relatives injured at Ghospara in Rajshahi city on November 9 last year.
The 52-year-old vice-president of the district BNP took five bullets in his chest, abdomen and head and fell down before an operative slit his throat in a desperate bid to confirm his death.
The PBCP operatives shot dead Afsar Ali, local BNP leader and union parishad member, in Baghmara on September 29.