Dhaka under pressure after Riyadh demanded quick probing into murder of Khalaf Al-Ali

DHAKA, Bangladesh (Wed, Mar. 07) – Security is on high alert after a Saudi Arabian diplomat has been shot dead last night (Tuesday, March 06) in a commercial area of Bangladeshi capital.

Dhaka under pressure after Riyadh demanded quick probing into murder of Khalaf Al-Ali

According to details; Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem Al-Ali was shifted to a local hospital in serious condition after he was shot in the chest where he was declared dead after being treated for three hours in intensive care.

The 45-year-old diplomat was on the late-night walk when he was shot by an unknown person (approximately at 1:20 am local time) at an intersection just two buildings away from his residence in the city’s Gulshan area, police deputy commissioner Lutful Kabir told in media briefing.

“He was hit by a bullet in the left chest,” Kabir said further.

Another senior police source, Nizamul Hoque, told AFP the diplomat had been living alone in a rented apartment in Gulshan for many years.

Khalaf Al-Ali was working as second secretary at the consular division of the embassy in Dhaka. He was on transfer orders to move to the Saudi Embassy in Amman, Jordan, after two months.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Office issued a statement in which they had demanded, on behalf of Saudi government, swift investigation from the Bangladeshi government and further requested ample protection for all the staff working at its embassy in Dhaka.

Mohammed Shahidul Islam, Bangladesh Ambassador in the Saudi Arabia, expressed the tragic incident as a dreadful crime that sent shock waves throughout the Kingdom as well as Bangladesh.

“We have intensified the investigation process in Dhaka and we are fully confident that the people involved in this murder will be brought to book,” Islam said.