Dhaka: Unidentified gunmen on August 25 shot dead a senior leader of Bangladesh's main Opposition Awami League party in the south western city of Khulna, sparking tension in the area.

Advocate Manjurul Imam, president of Khulna's Awami League and a member of the party's central advisory council, was shot at a close range as he was coming out of his residence along with a colleague on a cycle rickshaw

The rickshaw puller was also killed in the attack while lawyer Bijon Bihar, who was accompanying Imam, was seriously injured.

The incident led to tension in the area as lawyers and supporters of the slain leader staged angry demonstrations.

Awami League activists attacked the home of a ruling Bangladesh National Party (BNP) lawmaker and the office of the Jamaat-e-Islami party forcing the police to fire tear gas and use batons to disperse angry crowds.

Opposition chief and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina would visit Khulna on August 26, party sources said.

The incident came only two days after a Parliamentary Standing Committee in its meeting found the "law and order situation tolerable and stable", the 'Daily Star' reported.

In a separate development, private ATN channel reported that a tribal leader was killed on August 25 by unidentified assailants in Rangamati hill district.

PTI