Man killed in Cox’s Bazar ‘gunfight’

Border Guard Bangladesh men shot dead an unidentified man in what officers said was a "shootout" with drug traffickersin Cox's Bazar Wednesday night.

Fifty thousand yaba pills and a locally-made gun with two bullets were recovered at the scene near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Karibunia area of Ukhia upazila, said Commander Lt Col Ali Haider Azad Ahmed of BGB Battalion-34.

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"A BGB team took position in Karibunia area on Wednesday around 8:00pm after receiving information that a yaba haul was being trafficked to Bangladesh from Myanmar via the Ukhia border.

"At the time, BGB members saw a group of four or five people approaching from Myanmar's border area and ordered them to stop," he said.

"The group split up and started shooting at BGB members. In self-defence, BGB men also fired back. At one point, the attackers retreated and fled through the mountains towards Myanmar," he said.

Later, BGB members searched the spot and found an unidentified person lying on the ground with a bullet wound. When he was taken to Ukhia Upazila Health Complex, the duty doctor declared him dead, the battalion commander said.

The body was sent to Cox's Bazar District Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy yesterday morning. The BGB is preparing to file a case in this regard with Ukhia Police Station, he added.