Bangladeshi expatriate worker Abu Jaher was in Saudi Arabia when his daughter Tasfia Akter Jannat was born four years ago. The father and the daughter met for the first time after he returned home to Noakhali’s Begumganj recently, bdnews24.com reports.
Jaher would not leave Tasfia while going out and the girl also would not let her father go alone. The unthinkable happened when he took her to a shop next to their home on Wednesday afternoon to buy her chocolate.
The child was killed after a group of gun-toting assailants targeted her father.
Mamun, the shopkeeper who gave a single name, said one of the attackers fired one shot first but missed.
They hit Tasfia in her father’s arms with a brick as Jaher tried to flee.
An assailant fired two shots and both hit Jaher and Tasfia. She died while being taken to Dhaka for treatment. Jaher was badly injured.
Residents of East Hajipur village said Jaher was targeted by a group of men from Laxminaranpur village. He had attended an arbitration over a land dispute, angering the attackers, although he was not directly involved with the issue.
Police on Thursday arrested three suspects in a case started by Jaher’s brother-in-law Humayun Kabir. The arrestees are Emam Hossain Swapan, Jasim Uddim Babar and Daud Hossain Robin.
Kabir named 17 people in the case. Up to 12 unidentified others were also accused, said Begumganj Model Police Station’dd chief Mir Jahidul Haque Rony.
Dipak Jyoti Khisa, additional superintendent of police, said they were trying to arrest the other accused.
When the body of Tasfia arrived home after a post-mortem examination on Thursday afternoon, locals blocked the Chowmohani-Feni road for an hour, demanding justice for the girl. Police later calmed the protesters, assuring them of arresting the killers.