Gunsmith killed in gunfight

A fugitive convicted gunsmith was found dead with a bullet wound to the chest following a gunfight during a police raid on an uninhabited hill in Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali upazila yesterday around noon.

The body of Syedur Rahman Prakash alias Khuilla, 43, son of Azam Ullah of Boro Maheshkhali union, was sent to the district hospital for an autopsy.

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Syedur has been jailed for 30 years in three cases and is accused in six other ongoing ones, Additional Superintendent of Police Afrozul Hoque Tutul told The Daily Star.

Five policemen hit by pellets are undergoing treatment at Maheshkhali Sadar Hospital.

Police said they found 200 yaba pills on Syedur and 13 "home-made firearms" and 32 bullets at a makeshift camp.

A team of 50 policemen on a tip-off surrounded the hill, known as Keruntoli, was fired upon around 11:00am and retaliated with some 40 shots before reaching the camp half an hour later, said the official.

Three cases under legal provisions concerning attacks on police, firearms and murder have been filed.

The area is a hotspot for manufacture of illegal firearms with 48 being recovered along with 157 bullets and six gunsmiths and dealers arrested in the last two months, says Assistant Superintendent of Police SM Iqbal Hossain.