Narsingdi Militant Hideout: Two killed in police raid
Two militant suspects, including a woman, were killed in a police operation at a hideout in Narsingdi's Shaikerchar area yesterday, about two weeks after they came to the district with several other suspects to attend the wedding of one of their female accomplices.
Police said the female militant suspect, who was supposed to get married online on Monday night to a man living abroad, was still hiding with other suspects at another hideout in nearby Gangpar area.
Law enforcers kept the entire area cordoned off since 10:00pm Monday.
The dead man was the media wing chief of “neo-JMB” and the woman was his wife. Both were around 30, said officials of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, who busted the den in Shaikerchar area around 4:00pm yesterday.
The officials, however, refused to disclose the suspects' names immediately.
The law enforcers claimed the dead man was a key leader of “neo-JMB”, and that he played a big role in hiring new members and reorganising the outfit that lost much of its strength due to many anti-militancy operations since the Gulshan café attack.
With the two deaths yesterday, at least 84 militant suspects have been killed in anti-militancy drives by law enforcers since the café attack on July 1 in 2016.
The latest operation follows a Rab drive at a militant den in Chattogram's Mirsarai on October 5 in which two suspected members of banned militant outfit JMB were killed.
CTTC unit officials said that based on intelligence that 10 to 15 “neo-JMB” militants gathered in two hideouts only seven kilometres off Narsingdi town to attend a wedding, CTTC unit personnel along with members of the Lawful Interception Cell of the police headquarters cordoned off the two dens around 10:00pm Monday.
The distance between the two hideouts is around 2.5 km.
Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team of the CTTC unit launched the operation at the Shaikerchar hideout on the fourth floor of a five-storey building around 10:00am yesterday.
“The militants were asked to surrender but they ignored. We initially used [tear] gas and then fired shots at the den ... The militants also fired back at police,” Inspector General of Police Mohammad Javed Patwary told reporters at the spot.
During the six-hour operation, this correspondent heard intermittent gunshots around 200 metres away from the hideout. Journalists were not allowed to go beyond that point.
Once the operation was over around 4:00pm, CTTC unit officials entered the two-room apartment and found more than 300 burnt pages, believed to be organisational documents, said one of the officials seeking anonymity.
The militants had planned a celebration there. They brought meat, fish and many other things to the apartment, said the official.
About the female militant suspect hiding in the other hideout at Gangpar, the official said they were yet to know the identity of the woman and her would-be groom, who lives abroad.
The official, however, couldn't say whether the groom has any links to militancy.
Briefing reporters after the operation, Monirul Islam, chief of the CTTC unit, said the two terror suspects were killed on the spot.
The duo exploded four bombs inside the hideout where a small firearm was found. There was no collateral damage, he added.
The militants had made bombs to carry out subversive activities. “But we have foiled their plan.”
Replying to a query, he said it would be known whether the two were killed in the explosions or firing after completion of inquest and autopsy.
Earlier, Monirul said they had evacuated people living in and around the militant den to a safer place to avert collateral damage.
Several other CTTC unit officials said the two militants identifying themselves as a couple rented the apartment on the building's fourth floor on October 5.
The duo had first approached a local named Nazmul and asked him whether he could help them rent a flat in the area. They told him that they were from Narayanganj's Araihazar upazila.
Police have detained Nazmul for interrogation.
Talking to journalists, the CTTC unit chief said the two dead militants had links with those hiding in the other den at Gangpar.
Responding to a question, he said more than one militant has been holing up there.
The hideout at a sixth-floor apartment of a seven-storey building was kept cordoned off till filing of this report at 12:45am today. The militant suspects rented the apartment on October 3.
Monirul said they were negotiating with the terror suspects and would decide the next course of action if the negotiation fails.
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