Police officer's wife slain in 'revenge' attack by militant in Bangladesh

The wife of a prominent anti-terror police officer was stabbed and shot to death Sunday in an apparently targeted killing in the coastal Bangladeshi city of Chittagong, a local police commissioner said.
Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of decorated police superintendent Babul Akter, was attacked by three assailants at a busy intersection about 90 meters from her home at about 7 a.m. local time, Chittagong Police Commissioner Iqbal Bahar said.

The 32-year-old woman was taking her son to catch his school bus when the attackers approached her from behind, threw her to the ground, stabbed her eight times and shot her in the head, Bahar said.

The attackers, estimated to be in their mid-20s, fired into the air to spark panic as they fled, he said. Her son was unscathed.

 

Akter, the slain woman's husband, had led high-profile operations against the banned Islamist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and had been facing threats as a result. Senior officials suggested that the killing was linked to his work.

 

"It seems to be a planned killing. Akter successfully cornered militancy in Chittagong. So there could be a link (to) militants," said Bahar, adding that no such link had been confirmed.