A tea vendor was killed as two gunmen opened fire at a member of a rival gang in TB clinic area of Jessore town yesterday noon, police said.

The dead is Tipu Sultan, 22, son of Mohammad Ali of the same area.

The attack was carried out when Tipu was serving tea to some customers, including a local criminal named Sohel alias Tablet Sohel, at his tea stall around 12:10pm, said locals and mother of the victim, Dalim Khatun.

The two assailants came on motorcycles and opened fire at Sohel but the bullets missed the target and hit Tipu in the chest. Both Sohel and the attackers fled. 

Tipu was rushed to a local hospital but he was already dead, said Kallol Kumar Saha, who was on duty at the emergency unit at the hospital.

Salahuddin Shikdar, additional superintendent of police in Jessore, said they suspected the attackers belonged to the rival gang of Tablet Sohel.

He said law enforcers were trying to arrest the killers and Sohel.

Locals said there had been frequent fights between the two groups in the area.

Right after the attack, alleged members of Sohel's gang vandalised the house of one of the members of the rival gang in question in Sashtitola area, said local and police sources.