Attackers hack to death a police constable in Savar

A slash-and-kill attack on a police check post in Savar has left a constable dead.

Another policeman was in critical condition after the attack on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway at Ashulia’s Barhaiparha around 7:30am on Wednesday.

“The attackers came on motorcycles and used sharp weapons to hack the policemen on duty,” Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Nazmul Hasan Kiron told bdnews24.com.

He said the attackers fled soon after the lightning surprise raid. "There were seven or eight of them."

The injured policemen were rushed to the Enam Medical College and Hospital at Savar, where Constable Mukul Hossain died while under treatment.

Savar Industrial Police’s Deputy Director Kausar Shikder said that another constable, Nur-e-Alam Siddique, was in critical condition.

Three other constables injured in the attack have been given first aid, he added.

Police are yet to comment on the identity of the attackers or their possible motive.

Wednesday’s attack on the police check post comes four days after two publishing houses in Dhaka were attacked by men with sharp weapons.

Jagriti Prokashony publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was murdered while 'Suddhaswar' publisher Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul was seriously injured along with writer Ranadipam Basu and blogger Tarek Rahim in the attacks on Saturday.

It is not clear whether the attacks on the publishers and the policemen are linked.

On the night of Oct 22, an assistant sub-inspector was stabbed to death at a check post in Dhaka’s Gabtoli.

In the early hours of Oct 24, a Shia gathering was bombed in Old Dhaka, which left 2 people killed and over 100 injured.

Bangladesh Police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque had then said that the same group of attackers were involved in both the bombing and stabbing of the police officer at Gabtoli.

In the murders of the two foreigners—Italian Cesare Tavella in Dhaka and Japanese Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur—the attackers had used firearms.

While attacking bloggers, publishers and now policemen, only locally available sharp weapons have been used.

Experts on terrorism say sharp weapons used with speed and motivation to kill can be as effective as firearms.

They point to the use of only sharp weapons during an attack by Uighur separatists on a railway station in China's Kunming in March 2014.

Eight attackers armed with meat cleavers hacked to death at least 27 people in less than half an hour leaving 130 others injured.