There has been a spate of attacks on law enforcers by crime suspects and miscreants during raids and drives in recent times, which some attribute to the still low morale of the forces since the July uprising.
The Police Headquarters has recorded 213 such incidents between January and April this year – 42 each in January and February, 63 in March and 66 in April.
Besides injuries, law enforcers have also lost their lives in such attacks.
In 2025, 601 incidents of assault police took place across the country.
In a latest development, an armed group comprising 250-300 people vandalised and bulldozed an under-construction joint forces camp at Alinagar in Jungle Salimpur in Chattogram early Monday. The camp was close to completion, according to the Rapid Action Battalion.
RAB said that the miscreants opened fire, damaged road and culvert to hamper the joint forces’ operations.
At least 150 RAB and police members resisted the attack and fired blank shots to bring the situation under control. Around 25 suspects were detained, according to RAB-7 second-in-command major Zalis Mahmud.
Earlier, on January 19, RAB deputy assistant director Motaleb Hossain was killed in an attack by criminals in the remote jungle area of Salimpur.
On May 22, RAB-9 member Emon Acharya, 28, was stabbed to death by a suspected mugger during a police operation in Sylhet city.
In another incident on May 22 in Barishal, a member of District Detective Branch police was injured in an attack with sharp weapon during an anti-drug operation under Wazirpur upazila in the district.
On May 20, police personnel came under attack during a drive aimed at recovering government land allocated for a housing project for slum dwellers in the capital’s Pallabi area. Seven of the law enforcers were injured.
In the morning of May 11, police members were forced to open fire after being attacked by muggers in Town Hall Bazar area at the capital’s Mohammadpur when two muggers and a police member were injured.
The mugging prevention team of the Dhanmondi police shot four rounds during a raid conducted to arrest two identified muggers and the muggers arrived on a motorcycle and swooped on the police with Chinese axes and machetes forcing them to shoot at them in self-defence, said police.
In the early hours of March 9, muggers attacked an on-duty assistant sub-inspector and his pistol was also snatched in Narayanganj city.
Asked about the recent rise in attacks on law enforcers, additional inspector general of police for crime and operations Khondoker Rafiqul Islam has told New Age that the police have been in a shaky condition since the 2024 July mass uprising and this is why incidents of attack on police are taking place.
‘We are taking steps to boost their morale and it is gradually improving,’ Rafiqul states.
Following an advisory council meeting on law and order in May, 2025, the then interim government’s home adviser retired lieutenant general Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that police would no longer carry lethal weapons.
Asked if the interim government’s move was kept in place, Khondoker Rafiqul said that the decision was revoked following an internal meeting.
‘If criminals know police are not carrying lethal weapons, they will have no fear of law enforcers. We decided that police would carry lethal weapons but not use in political and public rallies and processions,’ Rafiqul told New Age.
Non-government think-tank Foundation for Strategic and Development Studies senior research fellow Md Zahedur Rahman says police lost its morale after the 2024 July mass uprising and became ineffective in policing activities for about one year during the interim government period.
‘Now, the attacks were mostly carried out by criminals and miscreants. Some general people are also attacking during mob violence,’ said Zahedur, who retired from the Bangladesh Army in 2018 as a Brigadier General.
‘There is no alternative to making police effective again as a political government is in power now. Everyone wanted this during the interim government, when the law and order largely deteriorated,’ he added.
Former inspector general of police Nurul Huda said that attack on police during drives and raids is nothing new but the concern is that it has been increasing these days.
‘If the perpetrators face punishment, the number of such incidents will come down,’ he adds.
PHQ assistant inspector general of police for Media and Public Relations AHM Shahadat Hossain says that people have a tendency not to abide by the law, and if the law and order situation deteriorates, people will have to pay the price.
‘We are taking actions against those involved in such attacks on police. We are also increasing awareness among people and community policing to end such attacks,’ Shahadat told New Age.
In addition to the low morale, firearms looted during the fall of the Awami League government in August are also a contributing factor in the attacks on law enforcers.
A total of 1,320 firearms out of 5,763 – looted during the July, 2024 student mass uprising that toppled the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 – are yet to be recovered.
During the uprising, 450 of the 664 police stations and 1,000 vehicles across the country were attacked and vandalised.
The BNP government has decided to withdraw members of the armed forces from the field and send them back to their respective barracks by the end of June this year, nearly two years after their deployment in July 2024.
