Assailants hacked a local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to death in Kishoreganj on Wednesday night.

The deceased, Zahidul Alam Jahangir, was the president of the Mithamoin upazila unit of the party in the district.

The attack took place at around 10:00pm on Wednesday (July 15) as Jahangir was entering his garden house in the Beribandh area of the upazila.

He was rushed to Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Dr Ananda Basak, an emergency department physician at the hospital, confirmed the death shortly after midnight.

He said Jahangir was brought to the hospital at around 11:30pm but had died before arrival. His body was later sent to the hospital morgue for an autopsy.

According to local sources, three assailants armed with sharp weapons launched a sudden attack on Jahangir. Hearing his cries for help, nearby residents rushed to the scene and managed to detain one of the attackers, while the other two fled.

Mithamoin Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Monowar Hossain said police detained one suspect immediately after the incident and are continuing operations to arrest the two remaining suspects.

He added that additional police personnel have been deployed and intelligence surveillance has been strengthened as tension prevails in the area following the killing.