Nine militants killed in police raid in Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: A major terror attack by outlawed JMB terrorists may have been averted in Dhaka when Bangladesh police stormed an extremist hideout in the capital and killed nine terrorists besides recovering huge cache of arms and ammunition. The operation comes ahead of Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan’s visit to Delhi on Wednesday to strengthen counter-terror cooperation.

The JMB terrorists were killed after two-hour battle with the police, sources in Bangladesh government told ET from Dhaka. One terrorist was also nabbed during the operation. There are suspicions that the slain terrorists were planning a major terror strike had it not been for timely intervention of the authorities following inputs.

PM Sheikh Hasina said that a fearful situation was averted following the operation less than a month after terror attack in the posh Dhaka locality. Bangladesh police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque, who coordinated the entire operation, would be part of the home minister’s delegation to Delhi along with the home secretary.

Police and elite counter-terror units of Bangladesh cordoned off the apartment building in Dhaka’s Kalyanpur area after the terrorists threw a small hand bomb at officers who were conducting a ‘block raid; in the area after midnight on Monday. The area was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed police and the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion.