Man killed in Dhaka ‘shootout’ identified as militant with bounty on his head

Police claim the man, shot dead in Dhaka early on Sunday, is ‘Sharif’, one of the six militants with rewards on their heads.

Senior Detective Branch officer Mashrukur Rahman Khaled told bdnews24.com that 'Sharif' was an Ansarullah Bangla Team operative, who was one of those responsible for the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy.

“Sharif had been using aliases Sakib, Saleh, Arif and Hadi to conceal his identity. He was one of those who took part in the killing of Avijit Roy. There was a Tk 500,000 reward on his head,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, police reported the death of an unidentified man at the capital’s Khilgaon area in what it described as a ‘shootout with criminals.’

On confirming the identity, police Deputy Commissioner Khaled said, “He was identified in the CCTV footage during investigations into the Avijit Roy murder.

“Information on him was also found from Ansarullah militants who had been arrested earlier.”

On May 19, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said they had identified six militants for involvement in murder of bloggers, secular writers and a publisher and announced a reward of Tk 1.8 million for information leading to their arrest.

Sharif is the second of them, who police claims to tracked down.

On Jun 15, police arrested the first of the six militants with a reward for capture — Suman Hossain Patwary alias Shihab alias Shakib alias Saiful — from an area near the Dhaka airport.

He is now being questioned in custody over the attack on publishing house ‘Suddhaswar’ owner Ahmedur Rashid Tutul.

Detective Branch officer Khaled said that they conducted overnight raids at different parts in the capital based on information gathered from Patwary about Sharif.

“During a raid in Khilgaon, three men on a motorcycle opened fire forcing the police to retaliate. One of them was hit and fell off while the others fled,” he said.

The man with gunshot wounds was taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him dead, said the hospital police outpost’s Sub Inspector Bachchu Mia.

Around 11:15am, police Deputy Commissioner Khaled confirmed the victim's identity to bdnews24.com.

He claimed that Sharif had knowledge on ‘each and every incident’ of killings of bloggers, writers and online activists.

“He was outside the Suddhaswar office when publisher Tutul was attacked,” the senior police officer said.

He added that Sharif was also responsible for coordinating the attacks on blogger-online activists Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Niladri Chatterjee Niloy.

Police said it had also identified Sharif as one of the masterminds in the murders of publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, online activist Nazimuddin Samad and the killings of gay rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy.

Detective officer Khaled said Shariful, who hails from the southern region of Khulna, had studied English literature at a private university. He had also worked for an NGO.

According to rights group ‘Ain o Salish Kendra’, as many as 192 people were killed in 2015 in ‘shootouts'.

Human rights activists have blamed security forces and police for these ‘extra-judicial killings' and pulled up the government for making no effort to control them.