Police have recovered the bloodied body of a 35-year-old man from a road in the Labanchara area of Khulna city, following a brutal broad-daylight hacking incident late on Saturday night. The victim, identified as Shahidul, was a local resident who succumbed to critical sharp-weapon injuries after being targeted by unidentified assailants near the Darga Kashemia Mosque around 11:00 pm.
Family sources revealed that Shahidul did not reside at home permanently, returning to his family residence only every two to three days. Having arrived home on Saturday afternoon, he ventured out again at approximately 7:30 pm. Barely three and a half hours later, a local passer-by spotted his bleeding body lying collapsed on the roadway, just 500 yards from his residence.
Neighbours and relatives rushed to the scene after being alerted by witnesses, quickly transporting Shahidul to Khulna Medical College Hospital. However, attending physicians declared him dead upon arrival due to extensive blood loss caused by deep incised wounds.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Labanchara Police Station, Syed Mosharaf Hossain, confirmed that attackers had ambushed Shahidul with heavy cleavers before fleeing into the night. OC Hossain noted that the crime scene lies in a relatively secluded stretch of the neighbourhood, complicating immediate eyewitness identification. Police records indicate that the victim carried a checkered legal past, with eight pending criminal cases against him—seven under the Narcotics Control Act alongside one murder charge. Law enforcement units have secured the area and launched a formal investigation to determine the motive behind the murder and trace the perpetrators.
The fatal attack highlights a persistent wave of violent crime affecting the regional metropolis. Police statistics disclose that within the first ten months of the current year, Khulna recorded 72 homicide victims killed through shootings, stabbings, and sharp-weapon assaults. A total of 69 criminal cases were registered in connection with these fatalities, with the number of formal cases slightly lower than the total death toll due to incidents involving multiple casualties.
According to internal police assessments, the vast majority of these homicides stem from territorial disputes, violent clashes between local criminal syndicates, extortions, retaliatory personal rivalries, and struggle for dominance over illegal arms and narcotics networks. Local authorities have intensified patrols across vulnerable sectors as special police teams conduct drives to apprehend those connected to the latest killing.
