A former leader of the Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal was severely injured after unidentified assailants opened fire on him late on Monday night in the Batiaghata area of Khulna district. The victim, identified as 34-year-old Sohel Sheikh, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and has since been transferred to the capital for urgent medical treatment.
The incident took place around midnight at approximately 12:30 am on a paved stretch of road directly opposite the Bara Kariya Government Primary School. According to local police sources, Mr Sheikh, son of Goni Sheikh and a resident of Bara Kariya village, was seated on a stationary motorcycle when the attackers approached him without warning. The miscreants produced a handgun, fired several rounds at close range, and fled the scene immediately. Mr Sheikh suffered hit marks to his right arm and the right side of his abdomen.
Local residents rushed to the spot upon hearing the gunfire and evacuated the injured politician to Khulna Medical College Hospital. He was initially admitted to Surgery Unit-1 (Wards 9 and 10). However, evaluating the critical nature of his injuries, attending physicians recommended an immediate transfer to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for specialised emergency care.
Police records indicate that Mr Sheikh, a former joint convener of the Batiaghata Upazila unit of the Juba Dal—the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)—has a history of legal proceedings against him. Law enforcement officials confirmed he faces seven pending charges involving narcotics offences, violations under the Explosives Act, and violent clashes.
Speaking on the investigation, Additional Superintendent of Police in Khulna, Abir Siddiqui, stated that law enforcement agencies have initiated targeted drives to identify and apprehend the perpetrators. Security measures and routine police patrolling have been intensified across the Batiaghata area to maintain public order and prevent further retaliation.
This attack highlights a worrying trend of targeted violence against local political figures in the southwestern region of Bangladesh. Merely days earlier, on 24 October, another Juba Dal leader named Ramim Biswas, aged 32, was shot and injured by motorcycle-borne assailants in the neighboring Terokhada Upazila.
Crime figures released by local law enforcement reflect a sharp surge in violent incidents across Khulna district this year. Between January and 23 October, at least 71 individuals have been killed in shooting incidents, hacking attacks, or other fatal assaults, leading to the filing of 69 homicide cases. Police investigations suggest that the majority of these violent episodes stem from territorial disputes over illegal arms, narcotics smuggling rings, extortion rackets, and long-standing rivalries between local criminal syndicates.
