A suspect in the murder of a woman in Chattogram last night was killed five hours later in a reported gunfight with police at Bakalia in the port city.

The deceased, identified as Shah Alam, 32, was one of the suspected killers of Bubli Akhtar, 27, a resident of Bakalia’s Bojro Ghona area, said Additional Deputy Commissioner (South) Shah Md Abdur Rauf of Chattogram Metropolitan Police.

The woman was murdered around 9:30pm last night at Madina Masjid area of the city over previous enmity, our Chattogram correspondent reports quoting police.  

Tipped off that three suspects in the woman’s murder -- Shah Alam, his brother Nurul Alam and an associate Nabi -- went into hiding in Murgir Khamar area adjacent to the Karnaphuli River, a police team conducted a drive there around 3:30am today to arrest the trio.  

When the police team reached there, the criminals opened fire on them, forcing them to retaliate, triggering a gunfight, the police official said.

After the gun battle, the police team rescued Shah Alam with bullet injuries and took him to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared him dead, Abdur Rauf said.

The law enforcers also arrested Nurul and Nabi, who suffered minor injuries, and recovered two rounds of bullets and a pistol from the spot.

Four policemen including Md Nizam, officer-in-charge of Bakalia Police Station, were injured during the gunfight, he added.