Three pro-Jamaat-e-Islami men were killed in “encounters” with law enforcers in Comilla, Rajshahi and Jessore yesterday.

In just the last three days, six people have been killed in similar incidents, raising the death toll in so-called shootouts to 19 since the BNP-led 20-party's indefinite nationwide blockade began on January 6.

Of the 19 victims, six were activists of either Jamaat, a key ally of the 20-party alliance, or of the pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir. Three were pro-BNP activists, according to The Daily Star reports.

After several incidents of “shootouts”, law enforcers had claimed that the deceased were involved in criminal activities, including hurling crude and petrol bombs on vehicles during blockade and hartals.

Family members of the deceased on a number of occasions alleged their dear ones were killed in a planned way.

COMILLA

Sahabuddin Patwari, 25, was killed in a “shootout” with police in Comilla's Chouddagram yesterday.

He was the president of Shibir Chouddagram upazila unit and an accused in two cases filed in connection with a recent arson attack on a bus that left eight people dead.

Police claimed that Sahabuddin received bullets when they opened fire on a group of criminals at Samuksar area on Dhaka-Chittagong highway around 4:30am after being attacked with petrol bombs.

A group of around 20 men hurled petrol bombs on a police team which was patrolling the area, claimed Uttam Chakroborty, officer-in-charge of Chouddagram Police Station.

When the bomb missed, the criminals opened fire, forcing police to retaliate, claimed the OC.

Sahabuddin was hit. Doctors declared him dead when he was taken to Comilla Medical College Hospital. Sources at the hospital said he had more than one bullet wounds in his head.

The law enforcers claimed that they recovered a revolver, one bullet and two petrol bombs from the spot.

Farjana Akter, a sister of the deceased, alleged that a plainclothes police team picked up Sahabuddin at their home in Chandiskara area around 4:00pm on Thursday.

They heard about his death yesterday morning, she said.

“He was not killed in a shootout. He was killed in a planned way,” she said.

RAJSHAHI

Sahabuddin Ripon, information and technology affairs secretary of the Rajshahi University Shibir unit, was killed in an “encounter” with police in the city.

Some 15 Shibir activists hurled several crude bombs at a police patrol team on Dhaka-Rajshahi highway around 1:00am forcing the police to retaliate, claimed AKM Nahidul Islam, a deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police.

He said after the encounter policemen arrested three bullet-hit Shibir men and sent them to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where arrestee Ripon, who received two bullets in his thighs, was declared dead around 1:30am.

The DC claimed constable Mahbubur Rahman sustained injuries in his right elbow during the incident and was having treatment at Rajshahi Police Lines Hospital.

Ripon was a final-year student of Crop Science and Technology at the university. The other arrestees were Habibur Rahman, president of RU Hobibur Rahman Hall Shibir unit, and Mofizur Rahman, a Shibir activist.

Interestingly, all three of them were shot in both their thighs.

Injured Mofizur alleged that police had picked them up in the city's Kapashia area around 8:00pm Thursday when they were returning from a wedding. They were taken to Motihar Police Station.

“Later at night, police blindfolded me and took me to a place, forced me to lie down on the ground and shot me in my thighs,” Mofizur told The Daily Star.

DC Nahidul refuted the allegation and said the three were involved in a bomb attack on a truck in Puthia that killed the helper on Thursday night.

JESSORE

Shahidul Islam, 35, a Satkhira Jamaat activist, was killed in a “shootout” with police in Jessore. He was the son of Nur Ali of Satkhira and nephew of a former amir of Satkhira Jamaat.

Enamul Haque, officer-in-charge of Jessore Kotwali Police Station, said a police team tried to stop a microbus at Ramnagar area around 2:15am.

The men inside the microbus opened fire on the team, forcing the police to fire back, claimed the OC.

Police later found Shahidul bullet hit at the scene and sent him to Jessore Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival, said the OC.

He added the Jamaat man received two bullets in his chest and back.

Abdul Majid, a leader of the pro-BNP Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal of Kalaroa in Satkhira, also received bullet injuries in the incident, said Jessore police.

KM Ariful Haque, additional superintendent of police in Jessore, said Majid was undergoing treatment in Jessore Medical College Hospital.

Meanwhile, the identity of the youth, who was gunned down in a "shootout" with police in the capital's Mirpur on Thursday, has been revealed.

The victim was Monir Hossain, 22, a carton factory worker in Mirpur, said his family after identifying the body at Dhaka Medical College morgue yesterday.

Monir had no link with politics and was picked up by police from a mess in Mirpur area on Wednesday night, claimed his brother Israfil.

[Reporters from Comilla, Rajshahi and Benapole contributed to this story]