Dhaka, June 08: Unidentified assailants killed a ruling party member and an opposition politician in separate attacks in northern Bangladesh this week, police said.
Belal Hossain, a local leader of ruling Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, was stabbed to death yesterday outside his
house in Pabna district, 120 km north of the Bangladesh
capital, Dhaka, said a police officer on condition of
anonymity. No one has been arrested for the attack.
In the other incident, about a dozen masked attackers
waylaid Momtazuddin, a local leader of the main opposition
Awami League Party, outside his home in Natore district Friday
night and hacked him to death with axes, police said.
Momtazuddin, 55, a former member of Parliament, was
riding a motorbike back home from a wedding reception when the
attack happened in Natore, 160 km northwest of Dhaka.
Police said a member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
has been arrested as a suspect in the murder of Momtazuddin,
who uses on e name. They refused to provide further details.
Bangladesh's political opposition and human rights groups
have criticised Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government for
failing to prevent a wave of assaults that has killed more
than 400 people last month, including politicians and police
officers.
Some critics say the attacks are linked to a political
rivalry mainly between Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and
the Awami League, the largest opposition group, of former
prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bureau Report
