DHAKA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A young man, accused of raping a child, was killed in a gunfight between his cohorts and members of Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Cox's Bazaar district early Sunday.

Rahim Uddin, 20, was accused in a case filed for raping a five-year-old girl in the district last week.

Major M Ruhul Amin, a senior RAB official, told journalists that the accused died during a shootout between his cohorts and RAB early Sunday.

After the gunfight, according to the official, RAB team recovered the bullet-hit body of Rahim from the spot while others managed to flee the scene.

Last month's brutal rape of the child has caught huge public attention and aroused countrywide outrage which along with many similar incidents of rape cases shook national conscience.

The number of alleged rapes reported to police in Bangladesh has risen in a dreadful manner in recent months.

A report of local human rights body - Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) - showed that at least 187 women were raped and 29 others sexual harassed across the country over the past three months.