Shaikh Jahan Ali, 34, chairman of Surkhali union, died instantly, as the gang sprayed bullets at will at about 10:30pm Saturday at Gaoghara Bazaar in Batiaghata in the district. The fire left five others injured.

Ali, also general secretary of the BNP Batiaghata thana unit, was playing carom with his party colleagues when the gunmen arrived, faces covered in towels. They ripped his head off in a hail of gunshots with sawn-off and.303 rifles, said witnesses.

The killers -- in sleeveless black shirts -- shouted slogans in favour of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) and made a getaway in a trawler, firing gunshots in the air.

One of the five injured, 24-year-old Ashraf Ali Biswas of the BNP Batiaghata thana unit, died at Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) early yesterday morning. The KMCH doctors said the condition of Shajahan Shaikh, 50, president of Batiaghata thana unit of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, is critical.

Senior police officials visited the spot half an hour after the killing of Ali, who was on the PBCP hit list, said locals. Four platoons of riot police have been deployed in Surkhali, said to be a stronghold of both BNP and banned New Biplobi Communist Party (NBCP), rival to the PBCP. Villagers alleged that the NBCP financed the election campaign of Ali this year.

No one was arrested until yesterday evening.

Mostafa Habib, chairman of the same union parishad, was gunned down in June 1999, and Molla Yusuf Ali, chairman of Bhandarkot union in Batiaghata, was killed in November 2001. As many as 11 UP chairmen have been killed in Khulna district since 1973.