On Wednesday night, criminals hacked to death a leader of Jubo Jote, the youth wing of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, in Daulatpur upazila in Kushtia.

Two Jubo Jote activists were also injured.

The late Mahbub Khan Salam, 37, was the general secretary of Jubo Jote’s Daulatpur unit. The injured are Mamun Joarder and Harun.

Citing one of the injured, Jabid Hasan, officer in charge of Daulatpur police station, some 15-20 criminals attacked the three with sharp weapons near Salam’s house in Allardorga Bazar around 11:00 p.m.

Wounded Mamun said Salam was sitting near his house with him and Harun. Suddenly the criminals rushed at them and started hacking them indiscriminately, he added.

Mamun alleged that a group of activists from the local Jubo League, the youth front of the ruling Awami League, launched the attack.

He also alleged that Tokon Choudhury, chairman of the Daulatpur upazila Jubo League, was leading the group.

This correspondent was unable to contact Tokon, also the younger brother of former AL Kushtia-1 MK Rezaul Haque Chowdhury, for comment.

Residents transported the injured to the Daulatpur Upazila health complex. They were then transferred to Kushtia General Hospital for further treatment, where Salam died at 1:20 p.m., OC Jabid said, adding that police attended the scene and collected evidence.

He said tension persisted between Jatiya Jubo Jote and Jubo League activists over a murder. An investigation is underway to determine whether Salam’s killing was political or not, the CO added.

Sharif Uddin Limon, General Secretary of Daulatpur upazila AL, declined to comment on this issue.

Roknuzzaman, central chairman of Jatiya Jubo Jote, and his general secretary Shafiqul Kabir Swapan demanded the immediate arrest of the killers.