Death toll rises as war on drugs rolls into 11th day

Death toll rises as war on drugs rolls into
11th day

At least 11 more people, including three in
Dhaka, have died overnight in security forces’
anti-drug campaign amid criticism from rights
groups and rival political parties.
The crackdown rolled into the 11th day since
the prime minister announced war on drug,
bringing the number of “shootout deaths” to

Law-enforcement agencies claimed the
suspects engaged in ‘gun battles’ in seven
districts from Tuesday night to Wednesday
morning.
Of the dead, one was killed in Cox’s Bazar,
Chattogram, Cumilla, Narail and Chuadanga
each in an alleged shootout with police while
three bullet-ridden bodies were recovered from
Magura.
The security forces have maintained that all of
the dead were involved in drug trafficking, and
they had no alternative but to kill drug
suspects who allegedly resisted arrest.
But human-rights organisations have raised
questions over these ‘extrajudicial killings’.
The ruling party’s arch rival BNP hit hard on
the government’s war on drugs urging the
government to refrain from extrajudicial
killings.
Earlier, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan
said security forces were conducting an ‘all-
out war’ on drugs and will continue to do so
until trafficking was eliminated.
Hundreds of people have also been arrested in
raids across the country, since May 18 after
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared a war
on drugs.
by: bdnews24