The Saudi ambassador, Abdullah Al Bussairy, on Tuesday visits the place at Gulshan of Dhaka where a Saudi embassy official was shot dead in the early hours of the day. — New Age photo

A Saudi diplomat died at United Hospital early Tuesday after being shot at by unknown assailants near his residence in the city’s Gulshan.
Gulshan police found Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, head of citizen affairs at Saudi embassy in Dhaka, lying in an unconscious state a few yards from his residence at about 12:50am Tuesday.
He was rushed to United Hospital at about 1:15am where he died at about 5:15am, according to the death certificate produced by the hospital.
A single bullet pierced his left chest, said Dhaka Medical College forensic department assistant professor Kamrul Hasan.
He was 45.
‘Unidentified gunmen attacked the diplomat,’ the Saudi Arabian embassy said in a note verbale sent to the foreign ministry in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon.
Khalaf, who had been stationed in Dhaka for about two years, was working at the consular section of the Saudi embassy.
Bangladesh government conveyed its regrets to the Saudi authorities over the killing, a foreign ministry official said.
The foreign ministry expressed ‘deep shock and sorrow’ at the ‘tragic death’ of Khalaf, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has, however, demanded a full investigation into the incident, Bangladesh ambassador to KSA Shahidul Islam told New Age over telephone on Tuesday evening.
It has also demanded speedy intensification of required protection for all staff of the embassy and its attaché offices, according to Saudi Press Agency, official news agency of the kingdom.
 The officials said that Khalaf used to reside in flat A-4, house 22/A of road 120 at Gulshan.
He was found lying bullet-hit some 30 yards from his house, the Gulshan police sub-inspector, Musharraf Hossain, who took him to the hospital, told New Age.
Musharraf said blood was oozing out of the wound in his left chest, but there was no blood on the ground.
Nur-e-Azam, inspector (investigation) of Gulshan police, said Mohammad Zulfikar, a security guard of
the nearby Portugal consulate, had informed the police station over phone
that a man was lying
unconscious near the building.
‘We took a snap of the man and showed it to local people who identified him.’ The security guard of Khalaf’s house identified him at about 10:30am,’ he said.
‘Nothing was found in his pockets,’ said Javed Masud, operation officer of Gulshan police.
Khalaf’s next-door neighbour Shah Navin Ahmed, an A-level student of Scholastica School, said, ‘He [Khalaf] used to go cycling at night. Last night, when he was going out without a bike, I met him on the stairs.’
Taposh Rema, a security guard of the Saudi embassy official’s house, said, Khalaf had gone out of the house wearing sneakers, trousers and a T-shirt at about 11:30pm Monday for a walk.
‘Every night at the same time he used to go out for a walk and returned by midnight, but last night he did not come back,’ he said.
He used to live alone in his rented apartment and on Monday night his driver Al Amin dropped him at around 7:30pm, the security guard said, adding, ‘Amin then went home.’
Quoting Zulfikar, the police officer said, ‘He [Zulfikar] heard a gunshot at around 1:00am Tuesday and immediately saw a white car speed away.’
Javed Masud said it was not immediately clear whether the Saudi embassy official was shot on the spot where he was found or elsewhere and then left near his house.
DMC forensic department assistant professors, Kamrul Hasan and
Mesbahul Islam, conducted an autopsy in the afternoon.
A Criminal Investigation Department team led by assistant superintendent of police Sabder Ali collected some evidence from where he was found but did not disclose anything to the media.
Sabder told reporters that a small firearm might have been used in the shooting. ‘It was a single shot,’ he added.
The death certificate read, ‘Gunshot wound followed by massive internal haemorrhage.’
This was the first time a foreign diplomat was killed in Bangladesh, senior foreign ministry officials said. 
Acting foreign secretary Mustafa Kamal said
the government had expressed ‘regrets’ to the Saudi authorities for the incident. 
‘We have expressed regrets to the Saudi authorities,’ he told New Age. 
The Bangladesh ambassador in Riyadh was asked to visit the Saudi foreign ministry and convey the ‘regrets’ over the killing, he added. 
The foreign ministry expressed ‘deep shock and sorrow’ at the ‘tragic death’ of Khalaf, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry conveyed ‘deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy’ to the members of the bereaved family as well as to the Saudi mission in Dhaka.
The authorities concerned of the government of Bangladesh were ‘directed to conduct immediately a full scale investigation into this tragic incident’ in order to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.
The government was in communication with the Saudi government about the incident.
Ambassador Shahidul Islam said he had visited the Saudi deputy minister for protocol and conveyed ‘regrets’ over the killing.
The ambassador informed the Saudi authorities that the Bangladesh government had started, at the highest levels, thorough investigations into the crime.
The Saudi deputy minister sought a ‘full investigation’ into the incident, he said.
The Saudi minister assured Bangladesh that the incident would have no impact on the relations between the two countries, Shahidul Islam added. 
Although the Saudi mission in Dhaka described Khalaf as a ‘diplomat’, the Bangladesh foreign ministry was, however, not sure if he was a career diplomat or not.
‘He was, according to our records, a non-diplomatic staff,’ a foreign ministry official said.
‘Regardless of the status of Mr Ali, the government is determined to bring the perpetrators of the killing to book at the earliest,’ foreign ministry director M Rais Hasan Sarower said in an official statement on Tuesday evening.
The government has already started a thorough investigation into the killing, he said.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni and Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia, in separate statements, condemned the killing of the Saudi embassy official.
Khaleda termed it a cowardly killing.
Ambassador-at-large Ziauddin Ahmed, chief of protocol brigadier general MAS Sadeque and foreign ministry director general Allama Siddiki visited the hospital and conveyed condolences to the Saudi embassy in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies expressed shock at the killing.
The Saudi authorities started the procedures for transfer of the body to Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi Press Agency.
Khaleda