The chief of capital’s Darussalam thana unit of Jamaat-e-Islami was killed after being hit by a vehicle during a clash with police in Pallabi yesterday morning, At least 10 people, including a policeman, were also injured in the clash.
Yesterday, Jamaat-Shibir members brought out a procession around 8:30am near the Journalists’ Colony in Kalshi, Pallabi. During the procession, Jamaat-Shibir men went into a rampage, vandalising several vehicles and exploding bombs indiscriminately, eyewitnesses said.
In the clash that ensued, police fired around 20 rounds of gunshots and arrested a Jamaat activist while Jamaat men hurled crude bombs, brick chips and vandalised several vehicles.
Police and witnesses said the deceased Jamaat Leader Billal Hossain, 50, who was also the Imam of Ibne Sina Hospital Mosque at Kalyanpur, was hit by a speeding pick-up van while he was trying to run away from police during the clash.
The pick-up van was detained but its driver managed to run away, police said.
Billal was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where doctors declared him dead. Billal sustained injuries to his head, said sources at the DMCH and the morgue.
Constable Abdus Salam, 20, of Pallabi police station was admitted to the Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital. The identities of the other injured could not be ascertained.
Police said the clash erupted when the police constable sustained injuries in an explosion, prompting police to fire rubber bullets, leaving several other Jammat men injured.
Imtiyaz Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Mirpur Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said: “While being chased by police, the Jamaat-Shibir men, who had been vandalising vehicles and charging bombs, started running away but one of them was hit by a running pickup van.”
