A Jamaat activist, the prime accused of the February 6 Gaibandha bus arson, was killed in a "shootout" with the Rab in the district yesterday morning.

Another "shootout" left an "outlawed party leader" dead in Jhenidah earlier in the day.

The Jamaat man was identified as Mostafa Manjil, 32, a former president of Gaibandha Sadar unit Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the party.

Alleging that the Rab cooked up a story after killing him, the district unit Jamaat in protest called a 48-hour hartal beginning 6:00am today. 

Another victim was Rafique Uddin alias Chhoto Tareque, 40, resident of a cluster village in Bishoykhali Bazar under Jhenidah Sadar upazila.

According to the Rab, he was the regional leader of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Janajuddah). 

But his family claims he was an activist of Jubo League, a pro-ruling Awami League youth organisation, and Rab men picked him up the day before. Two villagers said they saw a Rab team detain him on Monday morning.

Including Mostafa and Tareque, 29 people were known to have been killed in such incidents -- 18 in "shootouts" or "gunfights" with police and 11 with the Rab -- since the BNP-led alliance called the nationwide blockade on January 5.

In Gaibandha, a patrol team of Rab-13 while returning to Gaibandha camp from a joint operation stopped in Burirghar area around 5:00am yesterday, noticing suspicious movement of five to six persons on Gaibandha-Palashbari road.

Those unidentified men threw petrol bombs and fired shots at the Rab team, triggering a gunfight that left Mostafa injured, said Ashraf Hossain Siddique, assistant director of Rab-13.

His accomplices fled away and Mostafa was rushed to Gaibandha Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead. The Rab recovered eight petrol bombs, two pistols and a motorcycle from the spot.

Mostafa was the prime accused of petrol bomb attack on a night coach at Tulsighat in the district on February 6, said Raziur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Gaibandha Sadar Police Station. The arson left eight people burnt to death.

Visiting Mostafa's village home at Bishnupur, our Gaibandha correspondent found no relatives for comments. Even the villagers kept mum.

Majedur Rahman, acting general secretary of district Jamaat, alleged Rab men in the name of encounter shot Mostafa.

In Jhenidah, a group of PBCP men were holding a meeting near Chutlia intersection under Sadar upazila around 3:00am yesterday. After a tip-off, a team of Rab-6 went there and cordoned off the area, said Squadron Leader Foysal Ahmed of the battalion.

Sensing presence of law enforcers, the "outlaws" opened fire. The Rab members retaliated by shooting and at one stage, found a body lying on the ground, he said.

The Rab official claimed that they recovered four pistols, two shutter guns, 10 bullets and six petrol bombs from the spot.

Tareque was accused in eight cases, including four for murder, he claimed.

But two villagers -- Sujan Hossain and Sarwar Hossain -- said Tareque was chatting with them while they were working in a field by Dhaka-Khulna highway around 11:00am on Monday.

Three men on a motorbike appeared from nowhere. Within moments, a Rab van came, picked up Tareque and left, they said.

Talking to our Jhenidah correspondent, Tareque's mother Nabirun Nessa said Rab men shot him dead after detaining him from roadside on Monday morning. "My son is innocent," she said in tears.

Father of a five-year-old daughter, Tareque was a sharecropper, according to the family. His wife Lovely Begum said she wants the administration to find out the real fact behind the murder through a proper investigation.

Maharajpur union AL President Abdur Rashid claimed Tareque was a vice-president of the union's Jubo League. He had been a PBCP leader a long ago. In 1989, he got involved in AL politics and started a "normal life", Rashid said.

The body was sent to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital for an autopsy.