Amid ongoing unrest in Bangladesh following the killing of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi, another National Citizen Party (NCP) leader was shot on Monday in Khulna city.
Unknown gunmen opened fire on Motaleb Shikder, the NCP's Khulna divisional chief and a central organiser of NCP Sramik Shakti, according to a report by NewAge. The report stated that Khulna Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner for Crime Mohammad Rashidul Islam Khan said that Motaleb suffered a bullet injury to his ear after “unidentified gunmen opened fire at him, allegedly aiming for his head”.
The incident took place at a house in Khulna city’s Sonadanga area, police said, according to reports.
The attack comes in the wake of nationwide violence triggered by the death of Hadi, the founder of Inqilab Mancha, a radical student group at Dhaka University.
“Miscreants opened fire targeting his head around 11:45 AM, and he was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital in critical condition,” the Daily Star reported, citing the officer-in-charge (investigation) of Sonadanga Model Police Station, Animesh Mondol.
The officer said Motaleb was out of danger, explaining that the bullet entered through one side of his ear, grazed the skin, and exited from the other side.
The National Citizen Party was formed by Students Against Discrimination and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee after the removal of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Established on February 28 this year, it is Bangladesh’s first student-led political party.
The 32-year-old Inqilab Mancha spokesperson was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen at an election campaign in central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday.
His death triggered attacks and vandalism across Bangladesh, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram on Thursday.
Following the violence after the death of Hadi, a 25-year-old Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed by a mob on Thursday night in Mymensingh city. He was employed as a worker at Pioneer Knit Composite Factory, a garment factory in the Square Masterbari area of Dhaka, as per reports.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said about 20-25 youths gathered in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Saturday, raised slogans protesting the “horrendous killing” of Dipu Chandra Das, 25, who was lynched to death by a mob in Mymensingh on Thursday.
There was “no attempt to breach the fence or create a security situation at any time,” the ministry said, adding the police dispersed the group after a few minutes.
The protesters also called for the protection of all minorities in Bangladesh, the MEA said.
However, on Sunday, Bangladesh rejected India's remarks regarding a demonstration outside its high commission in New Delhi, questioning how protesters were able to approach so closely within the secured diplomatic enclave.
Meanwhile, two more persons were arrested on Sunday in connection with Das' lynching. With the latest arrests, 12 people have been held for their alleged involvement in the murder, The Daily Star newspaper reported, quoting police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) sources.
Earlier on December 17, the MEA summoned Bangladesh envoy Riaz Hamidullah and conveyed its strong concern over certain extremist elements announcing plans to create a security situation around the Indian mission in Dhaka.