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| Bangladesh |
| 3 gunmen took part in attack on Mayor |
| 2011-11-14 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Having been shot in the chest twice by a masked gunman, Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain sprung up from his chair and looked around for shelter. But in no time, another youth, also masked, entered the room and fired into his abdomen. Three masked gunnies actively took part in the killing of the popular municipal mayor on November 1, The Daily Star has learnt from witnesses. Five others, who also had their faces covered, stood guard outside, said Md Zaman, who witnessed the killing mission. The first gunman stormed the district Awami League office on Sadar Road, where Lokman was talking with some locals about preparations for Eid celebrations, between 7:30pm and 7:45pm and asked all those present in the room to leave at once. Aged about 25, he was wearing black trousers and a blue T-shirt. In his 20s, the second gunman was in a blue shirt, added Zaman. "Lokman Bhai screamed before he collapsed. Then a third criminal rushed into the room and started shooting at him," said Sudipta Saha, one of Lokman's close friends, who was also present at the time. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... no witness could remember either what the third gunman was wearing or guess his age. At the time, there was no electricity in the AL office. It was then running on a generator. An official of the Palli Bidyut office in Narsingdi told The Daily Star earlier that there was no scheduled power outages in the area between 7:00pm and 8:00pm on the day of the killing. He said the power lines of the office might have been snapped by someone from outside. The assailants left the room as soon as Lokman fell on the ground, Sudipta said, adding that they fired two shots in the air as they left the office. "I started chasing one of the killers. He turned around and shot at me. But I didn't stop. After running for some distance, I saw two other youths running away," said Zaman. "I shouted for help in catching them even as I continued running behind one of them. But I had to give in when he again fired at me. I lay down on the street to save myself from the bullets," he said, adding that the killers by that time had managed to flee the area. He said he could not recognise any of the assailants as they were all masked. Hearing him screaming, some locals came out to help. But the killers continued firing in the air so that no one could go near them. Ohi Bhushan Chakrabarti, a vice president of Narsingdi district AL, who was sitting to Lokman's left during the shooting, said he was stunned and for a few seconds could not decide what to do. He then started screaming for help, holding Lokman in his arms. Lokman was bleeding profusely, he said. Local people gathered in the room in 10 to 15 minutes by which time Lokman was set to be sent to hospital. He was first taken to a local hospital and later shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he died after a three-hour battle for life. |
| Posted by:Fred |