DHAKA, 2 March 2004 — Just two days after grievous stabbing of leading Bangladeshi writer Prof. Humayun Azad in Dhaka city, the killing of a top sports personality and grenade attack on Khulna city mayor on Sunday took the law and order situation to an alarming low in Bangladesh. Dhanmondi Sporting Club President Khairul Anwar Piaru was killed in a hail of bullets outside the club in Dhaka city late on Sunday night apparently over a leadership dispute.
Two policemen also suffered bullet wounds in a shootout between the escaping assassins and police. A commander of auxiliary security force Ansar accompanying Piaru, 52, was also wounded in the attack, reminiscent of another killing in the same club a few months ago.
Piaru, also a senior vice-president of Bangladesh Football Federation, took two bullets in the head and shoulder as a gang of six hiding in the shadow of the club building ambushed him shortly before 10 p.m. The killers opened fire as he came out of the club with the Ansar commander, Shamsul Alam, to check a leaky water tank.
“He asked me to follow him and we went behind the building. I heard gunshots and he collapsed,” Alam, now being treated for thigh wounds at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), told newsmen yesterday.
Ruling Party Candidate Wins Parliamentary Byelection
Reza Ahmed alias Bacchu Molla of ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party was unofficially declared elected in the Daulatpur byelection in Kushtia-1 constituency to Parliament, a seat fell vacant on the death of his father.
The Election Commission officials said in Dhaka yesterday, Bacchu bagged 112,803 votes while his nearest independent rival Korban Ali trailed far behind at 32,433 votes.
