Mirpur Terror Den: Rab wraps up 88-hour op

The Rapid Action Battalion concluded its search operation at a Darussalam house in the capital yesterday, three days after a raid that saw seven people, including militant suspect Abdullah, dead.

After the 88-hour-long operation, Rab claimed that Abdullah used the top floor of the building for making bombs and also as a workshop for his business.

On the fifth floor, Rab personnel yesterday checked 23 big refrigerators and found two of those tied with improvised explosives, claimed Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab's legal and media wing, during a briefing on the spot.

The elite force claimed to have seized 17 strong bombs, 30 improvised hand grenades, 50 “bottle bombs” made with different chemicals, 10kg gunpowder, 3kg sulphur, eight to 10 containers and 100 homemade weapons from the house.

The two arrestees -- Habibullah Bahar Azad, owner of the building, and night guard Sirajul Islam -- have meanwhile been placed on five-day remand in connection with a militancy case.

They are shown arrested in the case filed earlier in April in connection with the arrest of militant suspect Tamim Dari.

The Rab started the operation at 12:40am on Tuesday that resulted in the death of Mir Akrabul Karim alias Upal alias Abdullah, 43, his two wives Nasrin, 35, and Fatema, 25, sons Osama bin Akrabul, 10, and two-and-a-half-year-old Omar bin Akrabul.

After concluding the sweep, Rab confirmed the house was cleared of explosives. But the building was badly damaged between the fourth and sixth floors and might be risky to use as per the structural damage, Mufti observed.

The authorities concerned would check the condition of the building and decide about its use by the tenants, he said, adding, the fourth to sixth floor would be under law enforcer's control for now.

A number of tenants yesterday expressed their anger and frustration as they could not enter their houses for last four days on security ground.

“We left the house in one dress. I have three sons, one of whom is disabled. I have also two grandchildren. We are temporarily living with one of the acquaintances. But how long can we continue like this?” said Mushika Begum, 55.

Another 60-year-old woman came to the area to know when they could get into their house but got frustrated getting no certainty.

“We are wandering like the Rohingya refugees. We have no-one in Dhaka,” she lamented.

Asked, Mufti said after the search was completed in the afternoon they allowed dwellers of adjacent buildings to return to their houses.