Three militants killed in shootouts

MNA Editorial Desk: Three people suspected as militants were killed in three distinct shootouts between their associates and law enforcers in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Brahmanbaria yesterday.

Police claimed the two killed in the capital were Tareque Hasan Milu and Sultan Mahmud Rana, aged between 25 and 40 in shootouts. They were operators of forbidden militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Tareque was openly linked to the killing of Rajshahi University Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee and the bomb attack at Kantaji temple.

Rana had associations with the Bogra Shia mosque attack, said Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit (CTTC).

Rajshahi Police claimed that dead Jamal Uddin, 25-year-old, was one of the three adolescences who were involved in last year’s suicide bombing of Chokpara Ahmadiyya mosque in Bagmara. One suicide bomber was slayed in the shootouts and three others were wounded in the instance. The Islamic State had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The shootouts occurred at a time when the country is winding from frequent suspected militant attacks on people of the minority and nonconformist communities.

In a discrete incident, an alleged robber was killed in a “gunfight” with police in Nasirnagor of Brahmanbaria yesterday. Four policemen were apparently hurt in the incident.

In Dhaka, at a press conference, Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam said a joint team of detectives and CTTC lead a raid in the city’s Pallabi area after getting the information that a group of JMB men were coming to Dhaka from the northern area of the country.

Detecting the existence of the law enforcers, the JMB men unlocked fire and threw bombs at them, obliging the policemen to hit back with shooting that triggered a gun battle and the two weredead.

In Rajshahi, law enforcement agency said Jamal, a student of Chapainawabganj Polytechnic Institute, hurt three bullet wounds in his head and chest during a ‘gunfight’ between police and JMB men at Forhadpur village in Godagar. Police demanded to have detained a 7.65mm pistol, a magazine and two bullets from the spot.

Jamal also recognized the suicide bomber as Tareq Aziz, 22-year-old, who was killed in the explosion, police added. Tareq was the son of Abu Saleque of Rupnagar in Shibganj of Chapainawabganj.  Saleque was a rukon, a policy-level leader of Jamaat-e-Islami.

In Brahmanbaria, police claimed that a group of robbers was arranging to commit a robbery in Tullahpara village. Detecting the presence of the police, the robber unlocked fire. Police fired back starting a shootout. Seriously wounded Rubel was taken to Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead.