2 'militants' killed in Jhenidah den

A police officer “narrowly escaped” from a suicide attacker at a “Neo JMB” hideout in Jhenidah's Maheshpur upazila, as two suspected militants were killed and two policemen wounded during an operation there yesterday.

“As I entered a room of the one-storey house where militants were holed up, one of them grabbed me. Soon I realised that a bomb was attached to his body,” Ahmed Kabir, officer-in-charge of Maheshpur Police Station, told The Daily Star.

The police officer said he tried desperately “for a few seconds” to break free of the clutch of the militant who was wearing a suicide belt.

Ahmed said that at one stage he kicked the militant suspect with all his might. The suspect aged around 25 fell on the ground and the bomb exploded, leaving him dead on the spot.

“Moments before the bomb went off, I managed to get out of the room,” the OC added.

The identity of the dead militant could not be known immediately.

The two injured policemen are SM Nazmul Haque, additional deputy commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the DMP, and Sub-Inspector Mohsin Ali.

Nazmul broke one of his hands during the operation, as he fell on the ground while getting out of the den. The SI sustained a splinter injury in the head, as he couldn't get out of the place when the militant detonated the suicide belt, said a CTTC official seeking anonymity.

The SI was admitted to Kotchandpur Health Complex and later shifted to Jessore Sadar Hospital.

Acting on information from arrested “Neo JMB” leader Shamim, members of CTTC unit and local police led by Nazmul conducted the raid on the one-storey house with three rooms in Maheshpur upazila's Bazarapur village around 4:00am yesterday.

“As law enforcers launched the operation, house owner Jahurul Islam, a suspected militant, and his son Jasim Uddin came out of the hideout with their hands up,” said another CTTC official on condition of anonymity.

“Later, another militant named Tuhin -- aged around 25 -- also came out. Seeing that he [Tuhin] was wearing a suicide belt, police fired several shots at him. The bullets hit him and also the suicide belt, which exploded within moments,” added the official.

At a briefing at the DMP Media Centre yesterday afternoon, CTTC Unit Chief Monirul Islam said, “The militant was killed either in the suicide blast or in police firing.”

Thinking that there was nobody inside the hideout, several police personnel, including OC Ahmed, entered the house around 5:30am. With a bomb attached to his body, one of the militant suspects grabbed Ahmed.

Locals said they heard four huge explosions during the raid.

After the incident, police cordoned off the house and called in members of bomb disposal unit of the CTTC.

On May 5, CTTC officials arrested Shamim, regional coordinator of “Neo JMB” from Jhenidah.

READ more: Four killed in Chapainawabganj militant den

On his information that a huge cache of explosives was kept at his Lebutola house, law enforcers raided the place in Jhenidah Sadar on Saturday night and early yesterday.

“Shamim, who was a member of the mainstream JMB, later joined “Neo JMB”. He arranged shelter for Nibras Islam and a few other militants involved in the Gulshan Holey Artisan Bakery attack on July 1 last year,” said CTTC Unit Chief Monirul.

Briefing reporters in Jhenidah around 9:00pm, Didar Ahmed, deputy inspector general of police (Khulna range), said they had completed the operation codenamed “Subtle Split-2” at the Bazarapur den in Maheshpur.

Police detained house owner Jahurul, 45, a sweetmeat seller at Maheshpur Bazar, and his son Jasim, 25.

One of the two dead militants was identified as Tuhin from Jhenidah, while the identity of the other was yet to be known, the DIG said.

He further said the operation codenamed “Subtle Split-1” at Lebutola would start again today.

Police has recovered two pistols from the Bazarapur den and diffused three bombs, while six grenades, a pistol and eight bullets were found at the Lebutola hideout, he added.

In the last two months, police busted seven “Neo JMB” hideouts -- two in Chittagong, one in Sylhet, two in Moulvibazar, one in Jhenidah and one in Chapainawabganj. At least 23 people, including suspected militants, women and children, were killed in raids on the hideouts.

According to police, 18 of them were killed in suicide attacks.