Wife of Bangladesh police officer responsible for raids against militants shot dead

The wife of a Bangladesh police officer, who had led several raids against militants, has been shot dead near her home in the port city of Chittagong.

Police said motorcycle-borne assailants attacked the woman around 6:45am on Sunday while she was on her way to drop her son to school.
 
The victim Mahmuda Aktar was married to Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, who is now posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka.
 

Mahmuda Aktar

Babul Aktar

Babul, a dashing officer, led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated several terror-related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the Detective Branch in Chittagong.
 
The police officer, who was promoted in April and transferred to the headquarters in Dhaka, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district.
 
It was Babul Aktar, whose investigations led to busting a hideout of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and arrest of its military wing chief Md Javed in October last year.
 
The JMB bigwig died a day later in a grenade explosion when police made him accompany them in a raid on JMB hideout he had disclosed to them.
 

“Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife,” detective branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed told bdnews24.com.
 
Police said that Mahmuda was on her way to drop off her first-grader son to a bus stop for school.
 
Quoting witnesses, Chittagong metro police’s Deputy Commissioner Paritosh Ghose said that three attackers, who came on a motorcycle, ambushed Mahmuda in front of her 6-year-old son.
 
The boy said that the attackers first took him away and then one of them stabbed his mother with a knife before shooting her.

Police said that Mahmuda was shot in the head. 
 

“We found three live ammunition and a used casing on the spot. The bullet hit her on the left side of the head,” said Police Bureau of Investigation’s Additional Superintendent Bashir Ahmed.
 
Neighbours said that Mahmuda often worried about the security of her family.
 
“She used to say, 'We need to move from this house',” said neighbour Sharmin Aktar, who is not related to the family.
 
The Aktars also have a 4-year-old daughter.