A Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) examinee was left to fight for his life, and two of his friends suffered injuries after a "swift, bloody and merciless" knife attack in the capital's Merul Badda Sunday, police said.

The deceased was identified as Satil, 20. The injured are 18-year-olds Shoayeb Hossain and Rupom Datta.

The incident took place around 7:30pm at Merul Badda DIT Project's Road 13.

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Sayem Sikder, a local who took them to the hospital, said: "We rushed to the scene hearing screams and found Satil and Shoayeb critically injured."

"We took them to Asian Hospital first. Later, they were referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where Satil was declared dead around 9:30pm. The injured are now undergoing treatment at the hospital"

"We learned that they were repeatedly stabbed by a group of people, including someone called Rocky," Sayem said.

The body has been kept in the hospital morgue for an autopsy, Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH Police Outpost, said.