An officer of the Bangladesh Army was stabbed to death by suspected robbers during a drive in the Purba Maizpara area under Chokoria upazila in Cox鈥檚 Bazar district early Tuesday.
The deceased, Tanzim Sarwar Nirjon, 23, a lieutenant of the Bangladesh Army, is a former student of Pabna Cadet College. He is from Tangail district.
Lieutenant Tanzim was stabbed in his neck by the robbers when he chased a group of seven or eight robbers who had been trying to flee the scene by sensing the presence of army personnel at about 4:00am, a press release issued by Inter-Services Public Relations said.
ISPR said that Tanzim was rushed to Memorial Christian Hospital in Cox鈥檚 Bazar in a critical condition and duty doctors there declared him dead.
The operation in the Purba Maizpara area was conducted on secret information.
The members of Bangladesh Army detained six robbery suspects from the area and seized one locally made rifle and six bullets from their possession, the ISPR release said.
The ISPR did not reveal the identities of the detained people.
Chokoria police station officer-in-charge Manjur Kader Bhuiyan said that the army did not inform police about the detainees.聽 鈥楢rmy is looking into the matter,鈥� he said.
United News of Bangladesh reported that a military helicopter carrying Tanzim鈥檚 body landed at Tangail district helipad, where senior military officials and some family members received it at about 3:30pm on Tuesday.
The body was then taken to his village in Korer Betka.
Tanzim was laid to rest in a local graveyard after his namaz-e-janaza after Asr prayers at the Boali Madrassah field.
Tanzim was commissioned in the Army Service Corps from Bangladesh Military Academy on June 8, 2022, after completing 82nd long course.
Home affairs adviser to the interim government, retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, in a condolence message mourned the death of Tanzim Sarwar, a home ministry press release said.
The adviser also prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family members.
The interim government launched joint drives across the country on September 4, about a month after the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising, to recover illegal firearms and bring drug peddlers to book.