Unidentified attackers in central Bangladesh on Sunday opened fire on authorities transporting three convicts who are members of a banned Islamist group, snatching the men and killing a police officer, an official said.
About 25-30 attackers arrived in two cars as a van transporting the convicts was heading from a prison in Gazipur district, near the capital, Dhaka, police official Firoz Talukdar said. The convicts are members of Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, a group that wants to establish strict Islamic law in the Muslim-majority nation, he said.
One policeman was killed and three others were injured as the attackers took the three prisoners, Talukdar said.
The attack took place in Mymensingh district, 112 km north of Dhaka.
The injured policemen were being treated for bullet wounds at a government-run hospital, Talukdar said.
Talukdar said two of the convicts had been sentenced to death, while the third was serving a life sentence. It was unclear what crimes the men had been convicted of.
Police said they detained at least three suspects hours after the incident.
The government says that Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh was broken up after the radical group’s top six leaders were hanged in 2007, but that it is trying to regain strength.
The six were hanged after the group bombed government offices and courts.
