Three militants, two on death row, have been snatched away after assailants attacked a prison van in Trisal upazila, Mymensingh. A policeman has been killed in the attack.
The convicts are members of banned militant organisation Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Mizan, a bomb specialist, Rakib Hasan Sohel and Salauddin Salehin.
Gazipur Detective Branch Officer-in-Charge Abul Khayer confirmed about the death of the policeman and the escape of the three militants.
The dead policeman has been identified as Constable Atiqul Islam, 30. Three other policemen Sub-Inspector Habibur Rahman, constables Sohel Rana and Mamun were injured.
The attack came just weeks after the issue of militancy surfaced anew in Bangladesh with the video of al-Qaeda calling Muslims to wage Jihad against anti-Islamist forces.
Salauddin Salehin is a death row convict in one militant case while Rakib Hasan is a death-sentenced convict of one militant case. Bomb specialist Mizan is a life-sentenced convict.
They were being taken from Kashimpur jail to a Mymensingh court for attendance in an on-going case, Kashimpur jail Superintendent Abdur Razzak said.
The high-security prison van was on its way to a Mymensingh court with the three death row convicts on Sunday morning when the onslaught came around 10:30am, sources said.
Two private cars barricaded the prison van somewhere in the middle of the Bharaduba and Bagarbazar bus station area on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, witnesses said.
They detonated several bombs at the scene, injuring the four policemen. Constable Atiqul died on the spot. Local Kashimpur Central Jail Part 1 Superintendent Jamil Ahmed confirmed about the incident.