Bagerhat: A man, suspected as a forest robber, was killed in a reported gunfight with members of Barisal Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) 8 in Swarankhola Range of the Sundarban East Zone under Bagerhat in the early hours of Monday.

RAB claimed the deceased is Jamal Hossain, in his thirties, head of notorious forest robber group ‘Jamal Bahini’.

RAB officials said two teams of RAB 8 launched a drive in search of the members of the group in the Sundarban from Sunday midnight in a bid to find out the members of the robber gang which had reportedly been engaged in several robbery and abductions in the Sundarban over the last month.

As one of the teams was on the move at Katlarkhal in Swarankhola Range of the Sundarbans East Zone, the members of the robber gang opened fire at them, prompting the elite force members to retaliate, triggering a gunfight at about 5:00am.

As the two sides exchanged shots for the next half and hour, the members of the robber group finally gave up and managed to flee the scene.

Later, the body of Jamal was recovered from the spot.

Fourteen firearms and 100 bullets were also recovered from the spot.