Mother chopped, infant drowned in Sylhet

The victims are Hosne Ara Begum Lovely, 35, wife of retired army havilder Fatik Miah Chowdhury, and their 18-month old daughter Aklima.

The incident occurred in village Nobhagi under Biswanath upazila of the district in the early hours of yesterday.

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Three persons of the same village -- Abul Miah, Matin Miah and Aftab Ali-- were arrested in this connection.

Police and local sources said a gang of more than 12 broke into the house of Fatik Miah at about 3:00pm. All members of the family were asleep.

The gang members called up Hosne Ara and asked about the whereabouts of her husband. As she declined to say anything despite threats from the miscreants, they chopped her to death and threw her baby in a ditch adjacent to the house.

The body was later recovere from there.

Hosne Ara's son Masud, 14, woke up hearing the scream of his mother and saw the killers inside their room but he did not speak out of fear.

Some others at the house also woke up but did not dare to resist the armed men.

The gang took away a brief case containing about Tk 2.5 lakh before leaving the house, family members said.

Autopsy of the bodies was done at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.

The retired havilder is an outspoken person and he used to attend village 'salish' to resolve disputes. He is an associate of BNP lawmaker Ilyas Ali, neighbours said.

A police camp headed by an assistant superintendent of police has been set up in the village following the incident.d