Two people were killed in a gunfight between joint forces and criminals in Basila, Dhaka, early on February 20. Law enforcement officials have claimed they shoot in self-defense, as has been said in all similar cases in the past.

Mohammadpur police station sub-inspector Md Akkel Ali claimed that the victims were criminals, and they were killed during the ‘Operation Devil Hunt,’ according to the New Age, an English daily in Dhaka.

Inter-Services Public Relations said such drives will continue protecting people’s lives and property.

Based on the information that a group was preparing to carry out a hijacking in the Chand Udyan area of Mohammadpur, a team of joint forces conducted an operation at the location on February 20 around 12:30 am, according to an ISPR press release.

“During the operation, the joint forces surrounded both sides of an alley when the criminals opened fire on them from the roof of a one-story building.”

The team immediately retaliated in self-defense and managed to arrest five criminals with weapons. Upon searching the house, they found the bodies of two individuals on the roof.

They recovered a pistol, four rounds of bullets, and a machete from their possession. They handed over the arrested individuals to Mohammadpur Police Station for legal action, ISPR added.

“Two people were killed in an exchange of gunfire with members of the joint forces during an operation in the 40-feet area of ​​Basila at around 1:00 am,” sub-Inspector Abdul Momin, duty officer of Mohammadpur Police Station, confirmed to The Business Standard at around 3:00 am. 

Later in the day, police identified the deceased as Miraj Hossain, 25, son of Md Shahjahan Ali from Nurabad, Char Fasson, Bhola, and Md Jummon, 26, son of Abdul Sattar from Desh Bhuiyan, Gosairhat, Shariatpur.

“When a joint team of the army and the police reached the Lautala area of the Chand Udyan, the terrorists opened fire indiscriminately. In response, the joint forces started shooting back,” Momin said.

“The firing lasted two to three minutes. At one point, five terrorists surrendered. When detaining them, the joint forces found the bullet-ridden bodies of two terrorists,” he claimed.

The five arrestees were Md Hossain, 23; Md Miraj, 25; Md Al Amin, 24; Mominul, 20; and Md Mehedi, 17. All five are from either Bhola or Barishal.

All arrestees and the two deceased lived in different locations within Chand Udyan and its adjacent areas of Mohammadpur.

Jewel Rana, additional deputy commissioner of Mohammadpur Zone Police, said that as joint force members, including police and army personnel, rushed there and asked them to surrender, the criminals first responded by throwing brick chips.

At one stage, the criminals opened fire at the law enforcers, and the joint force members also fired back, the ADC said.

Police later sent the bodies to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy. Morgue sources said both bodies had bullet wound marks, according to the Daily Star.

The One-Man Newsroom was unable to verify the particulars of the incident independently.

Extrajudicial killings during special operations are not new in Bangladesh.

In the 15 years of the Awami League government, led by Sheikh Hasina, at least 1926 people were killed extrajudicially in such “gunfights” or “crossfires,” said a calculation of Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), a human rights organization.

Now, Bangladeshis are witnessing the ‘Operation Devil Hunt.’

According to reports from the police headquarters, the total number of individuals arrested during the operation had reached 6,849 by February 20.

In a determined effort to restore order in Bangladesh, the interim government, led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, initiated ‘Operation Devil Hunt.’

Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, “When authority figures characterize opponents as the ‘devil,’ it can fuel abuses by security forces that have never faced accountability.”

The interim government said that the security operation would target groups “linked to the fallen autocratic regime,” describing them as “devils.”