A group of armed men last night beat up and allegedly attempted to kidnap a prosecution witness in the case against convicted war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury at Panchlaish in Chittagong city.

The victim, Abbas Uddin Ahmed, the seventh prosecution witness in a case against the BNP leader, said he could identify two of the attackers.

Babul Member and Hannan, known as followers of SQ Chowdhury, were among the seven to eight men who had swooped on him, Abbas said.

The attackers came to Mohammadpur in a taxi around 7:30pm and tried to drag him into the taxi at gunpoint when he was coming from a relative's house in the area, he said.

They also beat him up indiscriminately, but failed to abduct him as locals rushed to the scene, hearing his screams.

Abu Zafar Mohammad Omar Faruk, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish Police Station, confirmed the incident.

Abbas later filed a case against four people, including Hannan, with the police station.

In July 2012, Abbas, 64-year-old chairman of East Gujra Union Parishad of Rauzan, testified that he heard from locals that Salauddin was involved in the killings committed in Kundeshwari and Jagot Mollo Para in Chittagong during the Liberation War

in 1971.

He also said about 60-70 Hindus of Unsotturpara in Rauzan in Chittagong were killed in a raid by the Pakistan army on April 14,1971.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 1 handed down the death penalty to Salauddin for committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War.