T wo more people, including Jahid Chowdhury who is the prime suspect, yesterday admitted to having involvement in killing Phulgazi upazila chairman and Awami League (AL) leader Ekramul Haque, bringing the total number of confessions to 13, said investigators.

Jahid, also known as Jihad, is Phulgazi upazila AL joint secretary while Abdullahil Mahmud Shiblu is Feni Ward 5 AL president and a municipality councillor. T hey gave their confessional statements to Senior Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Khairul Amin.

At least nine of the confessional statements provided till date blamed Jahid of planning and supervising the killing and supplying the arms. Ekramul was shot inside his SI IV before being burned alive in Feni town on May 20.

I nvestigators quoted Shiblu as saying that he and some others held a meeting with Jahid at Salam Community Centre at Mizan Road the night before the killing, deciding to attack Ekramul's car and harass him by tearing his clothes off in public.

Shiblu claimed that on May 20 he was at his residence and none of his followers took pan in the killing. After the murder, Jahid came to his house and informed him and Shiblu claimed to have stated that it was wrong to have killed Ekramul.

Details of Jahid's statement could not be known immediately. A total of 22 people including BNP leader Mahtab I Iddin Chowdhury Minar, who was sent to jail after an eight-day remand, have been arrested. Seven more are still on remand.