30 murders in Khulna this year amid drug and turf feuds: gunfire at dawn, fear at dusk, anxiety rising across the city
In Khulna, gunshots are sometimes heard before dawn breaks, and fear spreads as evening falls. Sometimes people are shot dead, sometimes hacked with sharp weapons, sometimes gunmen enter homes and open fire. Firearms are even being used in crimes such as mugging. In the first nine months of this year, 30 murders have taken place in the eight police station areas of Khulna metropolitan city.
The criminals' targets range from people involved in various feuds to ordinary citizens. Even a police officer has not been spared attack. One incident after another has now become Khulna's daily news, raising anxiety and fear among city residents.
Throughout October this year, multiple murders, shootings and armed attacks have occurred in Khulna city and surrounding areas. Most recently, on 22 October, two people were shot dead in separate incidents in the city: Tushar (27) was killed by gunfire at dawn, and housewife Khushi Begum (25) was killed in the evening by gunfire and sharp-weapon injuries.
At around 5:30am on 22 October, Tushar's bullet-ridden body was found in Ansar Uddin Lane near Mistripara Bazar in the city. According to preliminary police information, the shooting followed a scuffle among several youths in front of Khadimul Ulum Madrasa in Purba Baniakhamar.
The same day at around 6:45pm, attackers shot and hacked Khushi in lane seven of Jinnapara Bou Bazar under Labanchara police station. She was declared dead after being taken to hospital. Police's initial assessment is that the killing may have stemmed from a drug-related feud.
Earlier in Rupsa, father Akhtar Dhali (60) was shot dead less than a month and a half after his son Joy Dhali was murdered. Akhtar Dhali was shot dead on 5 October in Durjanimahal area of Rupsa; earlier, on 15 August, his son Joy Dhali had been hacked to death in the same area.
On 4 October, Purba Bangla Communist Party leader Nasimul Gani, known as Nasim, was shot dead in Farmaizkhana, Dighalia. In addition, Mahidul Islam (22) was shot on 7 October near the second gate of BL College in Daulatpur, and gas company operator Ashikuzzaman Johnny (34) was shot on 10 October in Kashimnagar.
On 19 October, helmeted attackers entered a house in the Christian Para area of Chanmari Approach Road and fired four to five rounds. No one was hurt, but panic spread in the area. Separately, Sheikh Jumman Rahman Bishal (27) was shot while his mobile phone was being snatched at Amtala Mor in West Tutpara.
On the night of 8 October, police inspector Shah Alam (43) was seriously injured by robbers' machete blows in front of Collegiate School and was sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment. On 17 October, shots were also fired targeting Sahel, known as a top criminal, in the Bakultala Bazar area of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Information from law enforcement agencies says several groups are active in the city's criminal underworld. Feuds among these groups have developed over the drug trade, extortion, occupation, turf dominance, tender control and the use of weapons, and sources say clashes and murders are occurring as a result of those feuds.
The law enforcement list of the city's notorious criminal groups includes B-Company, Palash Group, Huma Bahini, Ashik Group, Nur Azim Group, Tengki Shawon Group, Arman Group, Beji Al-Amin and Shakil Group.
According to Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP), the city's eight police stations recorded 29 murders in 2024, 37 in 2025 and 30 in the first nine months of this year — a total of 96 murders in the 33 months from January 2024 to September 2026.
KMP assistant police commissioner (crime) Golam Mohammad said legal action has been taken in these incidents and operations against criminals are continuing. DB deputy police commissioner Mohammad Ahaduzzaman Mia said no terrorist, whoever they may be, will be spared, and claimed that disputes centred on drugs lie behind most of the murders.
One murder and armed attack after another has raised questions over city residents' safety. Those concerned say the big challenge now is to ensure visible progress in recovering illegal weapons, controlling the drug trade, suppressing criminal gangs and investigating the murders.
