The area in which the clash happened is home to the rare Bengal tiger.
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A local police official told the BBC that during a raid, the alleged poachers began shooting and the officers fired back.
Six poachers of tiger have been killed in a “gunfight” with police in Mandarbaria Khal area of Sundarbans under Koyra upazila of Khulna.
The poachers were arrested from different parts of Koyra area of the forest early in the morning while they caught in the line of fire and died instantly during the shootouts in the afternoon at Mandarbari of the Sundarbans, he said.
After the gun battle, six bullet-hit bodies of the “poachers” were found at the spot, he claimed.
The Bengal tiger population has declined in recent years and Bangladesh has increased efforts against poachers.
Sarker said authorities found the skins of three adult tigers and seized firearms from the suspects.
Some 440 tigers were recorded in the Sundarbans during a census conducted in 2004 in the World Heritage-listed forest, one of the world’s last remaining habitats for the big cats.
“They now sell tiger bones, meat and skin for a lot of money”, he said, adding a lack of law enforcement and of monitoring inside the forest had contributed to the rise in poaching.
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There are now fewer than 2,300 Bengal tigers left in the wild – mainly in India and Bangladesh, but with smaller populations in Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar (Burma).
