RAB Officer Killed, Three Injured in Sitakunda Attack

Map of Chattogram. Photo: Collected

One member of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was killed and three others were injured when unidentified assailants attacked a RAB team during an operation in Jungle Salimpur of Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram on Sunday afternoon.

The deceased was identified as Abdul Motaleb, a deputy assistant director of RAB-7. The injured were named as constable Rifatul, lance naik Imam and naik Ariful.

According to law enforcement officials, the RAB team came under attack while conducting an operation in the area. One member sustained critical injuries and was taken to the Combined Military Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Following the attack, senior officials from police and RAB rushed to the scene with additional forces and launched a joint operation to rescue detained personnel and bring the situation under control.

Jungle Salimpur, located under Salimpur union of Sitakunda, has long been known as a hub of armed groups and illegal settlements. Over the past four decades, large tracts of government-owned hills and khas land have been occupied, turning the rugged terrain into a refuge for land grabbers and organised criminal gangs.

The area spans around 3,100 acres. District administration sources estimate that land along the adjacent link road is valued at Tk9–10 lakh per decimal, putting the market value of the encroached land at nearly Tk30,000 crore. Officials say this high economic value has fuelled years of violence and criminal activity.

Since political changes on 5 August last year, clashes over control of the area have intensified, resulting in several killings linked to hill grabbing and territorial disputes. In recent incidents, a person was killed in a gunfight between rival groups, while two journalists were attacked while reporting from the area the following day.

Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly faced attacks during eviction drives and operations against illegal hill cutting in Jungle Salimpur. In September 2023, at least 20 people, including an executive magistrate and senior police officers, were injured in an attack during an eviction operation. Similar incidents were reported in previous years involving RAB, police and environment officials.

Officials said the area’s hilly geography makes operations particularly challenging, as armed groups use lookouts to detect the movement of security forces and launch attacks from elevated positions using firearms, cocktails and bricks.

Despite plans to implement at least 11 major development projects on the government land, including a prison and an IT park, progress has remained stalled due to the failure to recover the occupied land.