In a brutal attack, unknown assailants yesterday hacked to death a police constable and injured another critically at a checkpost on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital.

Police said they didn't have any clue to the motive behind the attack.

The incident took place hardly two weeks after an assistant sub-inspector of Darus Salam Police Station was stabbed to death by a youth at a checkpoint in the capital's Gabtoli.

Talking to reporters, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said yesterday's incident was linked to the recent killings and attacks.

Giving an account of the attack, Dipak Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Ashulia Police Station, said two to three men on a motorbike took a U-turn near the checkpoint opposite Nandan Park at Baroipara around 7:45am. 

The bikers approached two of the five constables on duty at the checkpost. "They talked to the two policemen for a few seconds and suddenly started hacking them with sharp weapons," said Dipak.

Critically wounded constable Mukul Hossain, 23, of Industrial Police-1 in Ashulia and his colleague Nur-e-Alam, 24, were taken to Enam Medical College and Hospital around 8:50am, reports our Savar Correspondent.

Doctors said Mukul had died from severe bleeding before he was brought to the hospital.

They said Nur's left hand may have to be amputated. There were multiple injuries on his body and he was still in a critical condition.

Quoting witnesses, Habibur Rahman, superintendent of police of Dhaka, told The Daily Star that the attackers had a backup team of three to four that had taken position at a nearby orchard.

He claimed that all five constables were armed.

With multiple wounds to the chest, belly and hand, constable Nur-E-Alom Siddik undergoing treatment at Savar's Enam Medical College Hospital. He was injured in a machete attack on a police checkpost in Ashulia that killed a fellow constable. Photo: Rashad Ahmad

Asked why they didn't open fire on the attackers, the SP said the sudden attack might have caught them by surprise, and that they didn't get time to fire shots.

In reply to a query, the SP said the motive behind the attack was still unknown, but it might be linked with the Gabtoli attack.

Ashulia police said the three other constables -- Mohammad Apel, Pinaruzzaman and Mohamamd Imran -- also suffered minor injuries during the attack, but didn't say how they were wounded.

The attackers fired two shots while leaving the scene. Two empty bullet shells were recovered from there, police said.

Sub-Inspector Azharul Islam last night filed a case with Ashulia Police Station against unknown criminals.

An SI of the police station was suspended for "negligence" in duty.

Mohsinul Kadir, OC of the police station, said checkposts are regularly set up on the highway. A team of six policemen, including a sub-inspector and five constables, is deployed at each checkpost.

Constables from Industrial Police are also hired for the job, he said.

After visiting injured Nur at Enam Medical College and Hospital, the home minister told reporters, "Police were caught off-guard. They must be more cautious while discharging their duties."

Investigators scouring the spot at Baroipara. Photo: Rashad Ahmad

Referring to the recent killings and attacks, Kamal said, "I think all these incidents are linked.

"All of them [attackers] are the same people, and they carry out subversive activities sometimes using the name of Ansarullah, sometimes the JMB or the IS [Islamic State].

"Even their patrons are the same," he said.

Only three days ago, Faisal Arefin Dipan, owner of Jagriti Prokashani, was hacked to death at his office in the capital's Shahbagh, and another publisher, Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, and two bloggers were wounded at Lalmatia in separate attacks.

On September 28, Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella, 50, was shot dead in the capital's diplomatic zone while Japanese national Kunio Hoshi was murdered in Rangpur on October 3. 

Locally-made bombs exploded at a Shia gathering at Hossaini Dalan in Old Dhaka on the day of Ashura. A teenage boy was killed and scores of people were injured in the blasts on October 24.

EIGHT INJURY MARKS

Mukul's body bore eight injury marks, mostly on the left side of the body, said sources at Dhaka Medical College morgue where his autopsy was done.

There was no bullet mark on his body, said the sources.

According to a police inquest report, the body bore a six-inch cut on the left side of forehead, another on the throat, and a four-inch cut in the abdomen.

There were also two injury marks on his back and on the left side of the chest, it said.

Family members of Mukul Hossain crying inconsolably at Bahukula in Shibgonj of Bogra district. The 23-year-old policeman was hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Savar's Ashulia yesterday. Photo: Star

BREADWINNER OF FAMILY

Mukul from Bahubal village of Bogra joined Industrial Police three years ago and was posted in Ashulia.

A bachelor, he was the eldest of four siblings and the breadwinner of his six-member family, said his cousin Shafiqul at the DMC morgue.

His father Shaidul Hossain is a farmer and mother Morsheda Begum is a housewife.

Mukul used to pay for education of his two sisters studying at schools, said Shafiqul, who works at a factory in Ashulia.

Mukul, along with some other constables, was supposed to join Dhaka Metropolitan Police within a week or two. They had already got joining orders, said his colleagues.