Another Bangladesh youth leader shot in head during violent protests

A senior labour leader of Bangladesh’s National Citizens Party (NCP) was shot in the head in Khulna on Monday, the second high-profile shooting of a youth leader this month, as the country grappled with violent protests triggered by the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi.

Md Motaleb Sikder, 42, a central leader of the NCP’s workers’ organisation, was shot around 12.15 pm at a house in the Sonadanga area of Khulna. Saif Newaz, an organiser of the NCP’s Khulna metropolitan unit, told Prothom Alo that Sikder is the central organiser and Khulna divisional convener of Jatiya Sramik Shakti, the party’s labour wing.

According to party leaders, Sikder had been involved in preparations for an upcoming divisional labour rally in Khulna, scheduled to be held in the coming days. While initial reports described his condition as critical, party sources later said the bullet grazed his skull and his condition is now stable.

The shooting came days after the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, whose death has sparked widespread unrest across Bangladesh.