Outlaw killed in Kushtia ‘crossfire’

The second-in-command of outlawed Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) was killed in a “crossfire” between his cohorts and police in Khoksa upazila of Kushtia early Sunday.Deceased Fazlul Haq alias Fazlu Matbor, 40, was the prime accused in the murder case of Khoksa’s Ambaria union parishad chairman Nur Islam.The UP chairman along with two of his companions was murdered on August 28 last year, Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, superintendent of police in Kushtia, told The Daily Star.Fazlu was also accused in a dozen cases filed with Khoksa and Kumarkhali police stations, reported our Kushtia correspondent quoting the police chief of the district.After the “crossfire”, the law enforcers recovered five firearms including two light guns and one revolver; 20 bullets, two machetes and two bombs from the spot.With the latest “crossfire”, seven cadres of different outlawed parties were killed in the district during the last nine months.Acting on secret information that some members of the party were holding a clandestine meeting at Uthli Bridge in Uthli village of the upazila, a team of Kushtia Detective Branch (DB) of police cordoned off the area around 4:30am, said the police superintendent of the district.As soon as the law enforcers asked the outlaws to surrender, they started firing, he added.In self-defence, police also retaliated with gunshots, leading to the “crossfire”, he claimed.During the “shootout” Fazlu, son of Foyez Uddin of Jodubaira area in Kumarkhali upazila, died on the spot, while his accomplices managed to flee the scene.Police later recovered the firearms, bullets, machetes and bombs.The chief of outlawed GMF, Abdur Rashid Tikka, was also killed in another incident of “crossfire” with Rapid Action Battalion in 2006.