2 Rab men killed as truck hits van

Two members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were killed in a head-on collision between their vehicle and a truck in Narayanganj's Araihazar upazila yesterday.

Six of their colleagues were also injured in the accident at Purinda on Dhaka-Sylhet highway around 11:30am.

The deceased are Rab-11 Sergeant Mansur and constable Sohel.

In another accident, an Ansar platoon commander was killed after a speeding motorcycle hit him from behind in Jhenidah town yesterday morning.

In Narayanganj, the accident occurred when a speeding cotton-laden truck drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed the Rab pick-up van, reports our Narayanganj correspondent.

The pick-up van was returning to Narayanganj from Narsingdi with eight Rab personnel on board, said Rab-11 Commanding Officer Lt Col Anwar Latif Khan.

Sergeant Mansur died on the spot. Constable Sohel was rushed to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka where he died later.

Of the injured, DAD Abdullah, Sub-Inspector Mahfuz, Assistant Sub-Inspector Nizam and Lance Nayek Joynal were taken to CMH in Dhaka, while constable Rasel and sipahi Azhar to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Rab-11 Operation Officer Shamim Kabir.

The truck fell into a roadside ditch after hitting the Rab vehicle. However, the driver and his assistant managed to flee.

Five firearms and ammunitions of Rab were recovered and kept at Araihazar Police Station, said Moklesur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Narayanganj.

Our Jhenidah correspondent reports, Ansar Platoon Commander SM Jahangir Hossain, 55, was knocked down by a speeding motorcycle in front of the Ansar camp on Jhenidah-Chuadanga road in the town around 8:15am.

Locals rushed the victim to Jhenidah General Hospital where he died from his injuries, said Hasan Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station.