Rakib killed hours into recapture

Rakib Hasan Russell alias Hafez Mahmud

JMB militant Rakib Hasan Russell , who was recaptured five hours after he was snatched along with two other JMB convicts from police custody in Mymensingh yesterday, was killed in a 'shootout' with police in Mirzapur, Tangail early today.

The law enforcers have yet to track down the absconding JMB (which stands for Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh) operatives -- Salauddin Ahmed alias Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias "Boma" Mizan -- who face death penalty and life term imprisonment respectively for militant activities.

Though Russell, who is also known as Hafez Mahmud, died around 4:30am, none of his family members contacted police to receive his body till 2:30pm today, our correspondent reports quoting Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge of Mirzapur Police Station.

Meantime, police in Mymensingh today filed two cases against 16 to 18 people naming six accused -- one for attack on police and murder of a constable and the other under explosives act.

Earlier in Sunday night, Tangail police filed two separate cases -- one under arms act and the other under explosives act -- in connection with recovery of a microbus used in the snatching and recovery of a pistol, bullets and bombs.

In a well-orchestrated plan, an armed gang ambushed a prison van and snatched away the Salahuddin, Rakib and 'Boma' Mizan in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh yesterday.

The attack on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway took place when the van carrying the three was going to Mymensingh to produce them before a court in a sedition case.  

While fleeing through Tangail in a three-wheeler, police arrested Rakib in Shakhipur upazila.

'CROSSFIRE'

Around 14 hours into Rakib's arrest, a joint team of police from Mymensingh and Tangail took Rakib to Mirzapur upazila to nab Salahuddin and 'Boma' Mizan, OC Golam Mostafa said.

As they reached in Beltoli Ceramic area around 4:30am, Rakib's cohorts opened fire on the law enforcers in a bid to snatch the JMB man from police, according to him.

In self-defence, the law enforcers shot at the attackers, triggering a 'gunfight', Mostafa added.

Rakib was hit by three bullets during the 'gun battle', was immediately taken to the Mirzapur Kumudini Hospital where on-duty doctors declared him dead, said the OC.

Three police personnel were also injured during the incident and they were rushed to Tangail Police Lines Hospital, he claimed.

Police recovered a gun and three bullets from the spot, the OC added.

A Majlish-e-Shura (highest policymaking body) member of JMB, Rakib was on death row for the murder of Joseph Gani Gomez Mandal, a medicine trader of Melandah in Jamalpur.

After passing Dakhil from a local madrasa, he later studied in Mohammadia Arabia Jatrabari Qawmi Madrasa.

Rakib, who can speak Arabic and Urdu, had dissociated himself from Jamaat after the party had joined a government led by BNP chief Khaleda Zia in 2001.

A private TV channel a few years ago had aired footage of 2003 where Rakib says he had been involved in Shibir before joining JMB.

"As I was not a student, I could not work directly with Shibir. But I worked for a Jamaat candidate in 2001 election," he said in the clip.

Acting on intelligence information and Rakib's confession, Rab in March 2006, cordoned off the JMB chief Abdur Rahman's house in East Shaplabagh in Sylhet, which led to the kingpin's arrest.