Saudi diplomat shot dead in Bangladesh: police

DHAKA: A Saudi Arabian diplomat was shot in the chest and died in the Bangladeshi capital in the early hours of Tuesday, police told.

Police found Khalaf al-Ali's body at an intersection just two buildings away from his residence in the city's upmarket Gulshan district and rushed him to a hospital where he died three hours later, Dhaka police deputy commissioner Lutful Kabir said.

"He was hit by a bullet in the left chest," he said, adding that police were investigating the murder of the 45-year-old head of Saudi citizen affairs at the embassy.

The location of the shooting was cordoned off by police and security was stepped up in the diplomatic area of the city. (AFP)