Bangladesh allows police to open fire on attackers

Bangladesh has allowed police to open fire when faced with attackers after the killing of two policemen this week as well as the recent slayings of two foreigners and a publisher, claimed by the Islamic State.

“The personnel of the law enforcement agencies have been allowed to open fire if they are attacked while on duty,” a police spokesman said.

Authorities last night issued a six-point security guideline in view of the target killing of security personnel.“Apply force in keeping with rules and even open fire if necessary in the event of any police personnel on duty being attacked,” says one of the instructions.

The directives came amid growing concerns about police inefficiency particularly after the fatal attack on the police checkpoint at Ashulia near Dhaka when three on duty policemen fled the scene as a colleague of theirs was hacked to death and another was critically wounded. The Prothom Alo newspaper on Friday reported that the five policemen at the makeshift check post could not respond to the motorbike-borne assailants as they were carrying rifles without ammunition.