3 killed in ‘gunfights’ with cops

Two suspected yaba traders were killed in what police said was a gunfight in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar early yesterday.

Around the same time, an unidentified man was killed in a "shootout" with police in the capital's Bosila area.

No policeman was reported shot or injured in these incidents.

The deceased in Teknaf -- Faruk Hosen, 37 and Ajidul Huq, 26 -- were brothers, said Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station.

Based on a tip-off about a consignment of yaba being smuggled in from Myanmar, police raided Nazirpara Chakbazar area around 2:00am, said the OC.

Sensing police presence, a group of drug traders opened fire targeting law enforcers, who then retaliated, he added.

While the rest of the drug traders escaped, the two brothers sustained bullet injuries during the "gunfight".

Police took them to Teknaf Health Complex where doctors declared them dead, the OC claimed.

Police recovered 20,000 yaba pills, two locally-made firearms and 11 bullets from the spot and filed three cases in this regard, he added.

The bodies were kept at Cox's Bazar Medical College for autopsy, reports our correspondent in Cox's Bazar.

Meanwhile, the identity of the man, aged around 35, who died in the capital's "shootout" had not been known.

According to a report by sub-inspector Sajedul Haque of Mohammadpur Police Station, the shootout took place around 3:00am when a team from the police station went to the Bosila Garden City area to apprehend a suspect.

During a "gunfight", the man was injured by bullets and rushed to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead, read the report.

The body was sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy.