Nine more people have been killed in what security forces described as shootouts as the country’s war on drugs continued amid criticism from different rights groups and rival political parties.
The crackdown on narcotics continued for the sixth day, bringing the number of shootout deaths to 44.
Law-enforcement agencies claimed they engaged in gun battles with drug traffickers in six districts from Wednesday midnight to early Thursday.
Among the dead, two people have been killed in Feni and Cumilla each in an alleged shootout with police while one person died in Narayanganj and Brahmanbaria each.
Moreover, at least two bullet-ridden dead bodies were found in Magura and one in Satkhira, according to police. The police say they were suspected drug dealers as some illegal drugs were recovered from the scene.
The descriptions of these “shootouts”, which are coming from law-enforcement agencies, are almost identical. According to them, during the operations, the members of the drug gang opened fire in counter attacks, which resulted in deaths.
However, at different times the families of the deceased came up with the complaints that they were arrested and killed, bdnews24 reported.
Although they disapprove the prevalence of drug in the country, rights organisations expressed their anxiety over the killings and the way the law-enforcement agencies are combating drug trafficking. They demanded an end to these extrajudicial killings.