A prosecution witness yesterday testified that war crimes accused Sheikh Sirajul Haque led Razakars in a mass killing at Shakharikathi Bazar of Bagerhat on November 5,1971.

Altaf Hossain Kotal, the 10th prosecution witness, also told the

International Crimes Tribunal-1 that he saw another accused, Abdul Latif Talukder, take part in the killings.

Earlier, three witnesses testified that some 42 people were killed on that day.

Altaf went to shop in the market around 3:00pm. He said, "Sometime later, I saw accused Siraj Master leading 25-30 armed Razakars to Shakharikathi Bazar." People ran off in all directions in fear, but the Razakars assured them of doing no harm, he added.

The Razakars, who collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army during the Liberation War, tied the shoppers with gamchha (thin cotton towel). "Accused Siraj Master blew a whistle and the Razakars opened

fire upon the detainees," said Altaf, who watched it from inside a mosque.

The bodies were left there the whole night before being dumped beside a canal of Ramchandrapur village.

The defence cross-examined the witness before the proceeding was adjourned until January 11,2015.Meanwhile, the prosecution will petition the tribunal today, seeking "contempt of court" charges against Tajul Islam, a counsel of war crimes convict ATM Azharul Islam.

Soon after Azharul was sentenced to death Tuesday, Tajul said justice would have been served had the tribunal "thrown the evidence into the dustbin" and "fined the prosecution" for producing such evidence.

Prosecutor Zead Al Malum yesterday said Tajul's statement was" tantamount to contempt of court".

About 40 minutes after Malum's statement, Tajul told the media that he did not say anything that could malign the tribunal.