Dhaka [Bangladesh], January 8 : Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Azizur Rahman Musabbir was shot dead, while Abu Sufian Masud, General Secretary of the Karwan Bazar Van Association, was injured in a shooting, local media reported.
Musabbir was the former general secretary of Dhaka City North Swechchhasebak Dal, the volunteer wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The incident took place on Wednesday night at around 8:40 pm in the Tejturi Bazar area behind Bashundhara Market in the capital, where unidentified gunmen opened fire targeting them.
The death of Musabbir was confirmed by Fazlul Karim, Additional Deputy Police Commissioner (ADC) of the Tejgaon Division. He said, "Two people were shot in an alley beside Star Kabab. Among them, Musabbir was killed. Another person was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital."
Around 8:00 pm, assailants on motorcycles opened fire in front of Star Kabab at Karwan Bazar after crossing Farmgate. Musabbir and Abu Sufian were critically injured by the gunshots. Musabbir was first taken to BRB Hospital, where he later died.
According to The Daily Star, Musabbir had attended a programme near the Super Star Hotel earlier in the evening with a group of Shariatpur residents. After the programme ended, Musabbir and Masud were walking along a nearby lane when two attackers opened fire at them before fleeing the scene.
Masud, who sustained gunshot wounds, was later taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Inspector Md Faruq, in charge of the police camp at the hospital, said Masud was shot on the left side of his abdomen and was undergoing treatment in the emergency ward.
Family members and party activists said Musabbir had spent significant time in jail during the Awami League regime and had been arrested multiple times in political cases. A native of Shariatpur, he was the eldest of three siblings and lived with his family on Garden Road in West Karwan Bazar.
He had also contested the 2020 city corporation polls as a BNP-backed candidate for the councillor post in Ward-26 of Tejgaon, The Daily Star reported.
Following the shooting, protests were staged near the Sonargaon intersection by a group that included local BNP members. The incident has added to concerns over law and order ahead of the national election scheduled for February 12, amid reports of a rise in political violence across the country in recent weeks.
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