2 vegetable traders killed under truck wheels

Two vegetable traders were killed after a stationary pickup they were tied in during a highway robbery was hit by an earth-laden truck on the Savar-Bhakurda road outside the capital early yesterday.

Protesting locals blocked the road for four hours till being dispersed by police and firefighters around 9:00am, causing a 10-kilometre tailback.

The demonstrators snatched the bodies of Masud Rana, 20, and his uncle Mohsin Miah, 45, hailing from Keraniganj's Battali, from police, said Savar Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge SM Kamruzzaman.

A fellow of the duo claimed to journalists that he and another trader were travelling with the victims to Mirpur-1 on the pickup.

Some 20 robbers forced the vehicle to stop at Boliarpur around 3:00am and started looting their cellphones and money, said Alimuddin, adding that only the duo were left tied up inside the pickup after being beaten for resisting.

Locals claiming to be witnesses said at one point, the truck hit the pickup and fled, presumably to avoid looting.