CHATTOGRAM — Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate Ershad Ullah was shot at point-blank range during an election campaign event in Chattogram, with a video showing a gunman opening fire from two arm-lengths away, police and witnesses said.
The attack on Ershad Ullah, the BNP candidate for the Chattogram-8 seat, took place Wednesday evening at Chaillatali in the Bayezid police station area. A top-listed criminal who was with him, Sarowar Hossain Babla, was killed at the scene. Witnesses said eight young men arrived on three motorcycles and fired indiscriminately before fleeing. A video shows a pistol being fired at the BNP candidate from two arm-lengths away during the outreach event.
Bloodstained campaign banners and torn placards lay at the scene — a grim portent of a violent election.
Around 5:30 p.m., Ershad Ullah, the BNP candidate and convener of Chattogram metropolitan BNP, held a courtyard meeting with local activists at Hamzarbagh Chaillatali. He was then shaking hands with people during a public outreach. Suddenly, the sound of a motorcycle came from the alley. Within moments, one shot followed another. Everyone scattered. His aides said Ershad was hit in the leg. He was immediately taken to Evercare Hospital.
“Before we could understand what was happening, the gunshots shook the surroundings,” Md. Humayun, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack, said. “There were at least eight people on three motorcycles. They wore helmets with their faces covered.” Another witness said almost all of them had pistols. “As soon as I heard the gunshots, I quickly left the scene,” the witness said.
A video that went viral on Facebook shows Ershad Ullah, the BNP candidate, campaigning at a shop. A man pulls out a pistol from two arm-lengths away, fires three rounds and the attackers flee quickly.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a member of BNP’s standing committee, said the attack was meant to derail the election. “I urge the administration to quickly arrest those responsible,” he said.
Amirul Islam, deputy police commissioner of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (North), said Ershad Ullah was admitted to a hospital with gunshot wounds. “A person named Sarowar Babla was rescued in a wounded state but later died,” he said.
After the incident, BNP activists gathered at the hospital. The party strongly condemned the attack and demanded the swift arrest of those responsible.
Chattogram Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz said police have been instructed to catch the suspected attackers. “They will be brought under the law quickly,” he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report