A Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officer has been killed and three personnel injured after armed assailants opened fire during an operation in the Jungle Salimpur area of Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram, officials said.
Two of the injured officers, who were initially taken hostage by the assailants and later rescued, are in critical condition and have been admitted to the intensive care unit of Chattogram’s Combined Military Hospital.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon during an operation in the area known to be controlled by armed gangs.
The incident comes amid a recent rise in violent attacks in Chattogram, including the killings of several political figures, linked to armed criminal groups. Despite pledges of stringent action, law enforcement agencies have struggled to rein in the violence ahead of the 13th parliamentary election.
The deceased officer, Abdul Motaleb, was serving as a deputy assistant director with RAB’s Patenga Battalion. He had been deputed to RAB from Border Guard Bangladesh, where he held the rank of Nayeb Subedar.
Chattogram district police Additional Superintendent (Crime and Operations) Sirajul Islam confirmed the officer’s death.
According to RAB sources, a team from the Rapid Action Battalion’s Patenga Battalion went to the No 1 Society area of Jungle Salimpur on Monday afternoon to conduct an operation. During the operation, the team came under attack from assailants.
Abdul Motaleb was critically wounded by gunfire and was taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where he later died while undergoing treatment. The sources said three RAB members were taken hostage during the incident.
Sitakunda Police Station Second Officer Sub-Inspector Jafar Ahmed Bhuiyan said police were at the scene and that the officer-in-charge and other senior officials were overseeing the situation.
He said additional law enforcement personnel had been deployed in the area to bring the situation under control.
According to eyewitnesses, members of a local group known as the Yasin Group were expected to attend the inauguration of a BNP office in the No 1 Society area of Jungle Salimpur. Clashes broke out when security forces moved in to arrest suspects at the site, witnesses said.
Sitakunda BNP convener Kamal Quader said he was not aware of the incident. Speaking to TIMES of Bangladesh, he said the party had no programme scheduled in the area.
“We are currently focused on constituency-based election work. I do not know what happened in Jungle Salimpur,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anwar Siddique Chowdhury, the Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated candidate for the Sitakunda constituency, alleged that the Yasin group was involved in the violence in Jungle Salimpur.
He said clashes had erupted between two BNP factions in the area and that a RAB officer was killed when RAB members intervened to bring the situation under control.
A hotspot of criminal activities
District administration officials and local sources say that thousands of illegal settlements have been built over nearly four decades on government-owned hills and khas land in the Jungle Salimpur area.
Because of its remote and rugged terrain, the area has long been regarded as a safe haven for hill grabbers, land grabbers and armed criminal groups. The locality is still controlled through armed surveillance, with access by outsiders effectively restricted, according to officials.
In October last year, police called for a full-scale commando operation, including the deployment of helicopters and heavy weapons, in the area.
According to law enforcers, the area has become a stronghold for armed criminal groups, and conventional policing methods are no longer sufficient to restore control and ensure public safety.
There is information that weapons looted from police stations in the Chittagong region after 5 August 2024, have also been hidden here.
Located in the hilly terrain of Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram, Jungle Salimpur has developed into a densely populated, largely unauthorised and unplanned settlement housing around 100,000 people.
Jungle Salimpur covers an area of about 3,100 acres. Disputes over control of this vast tract of land have fuelled clashes, killings and criminal activity in the area for years, those familiar with the situation say.
Following the political changes in the country on 5 August last year, armed confrontations over control of Jungle Salimpur intensified. Several killings were reported during that period, linked to competition for dominance and land occupation.
Most recently, one person was killed in an exchange of gunfire between rival groups. The following day, two journalists were attacked while gathering information in the area.
The administration has also faced repeated attacks during past eviction drives and operations aimed at stopping hill cutting.
On 14 September 2023, at least 20 people, including an executive magistrate, the officer-in-charge of the local police station and several police personnel, were injured while returning from an eviction operation.
In 2022, there were multiple attacks on RAB personnel, the police and the Department of Environment officials.
Law enforcement officials say the geography of the area makes operations particularly difficult.
They say that as soon as security vehicles enter the area, armed groups are alerted by lookouts, after which gunfire, crude explosives and bricks are thrown from positions in the hills. As a result, controlling the situation through standalone operations has proved challenging.
Officials say there are plans to implement at least 11 major projects on the government khas land in Jungle Salimpur, including a prison and an information technology park. However, those projects have yet to move forward because the land has not been recovered.
