The militants were cornered in an early morning raid on their hideout in Naraynganj, on the outskirts of the capital, and were killed after refusing to surrender, Additional Commissioner of Police Monirul Islam said.
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A series of attacks on free thinkers, bloggers, atheists and foreigners – around 45 people were killed in such strikes in over two years – had triggered global concern on Bangladesh’s internal security, causing embarrassment to Hasina.
22 The number of people killed in last month’s attack in Dhaka.
Two security personnel and six militants were also killed when army commandos stormed the cafe to rescue the hostages.
Bangladesh police have been conducting raids across the country to hunt down those behind the attacks.
Since that attack, “there has been an intensification of dialogue and deepening of the partnership with law enforcement and the military” and the United States is seeking to see what more it can do with Bangladesh, said a senior State Department official in a background briefing for reporters. “When we entered into the house we saw three bodies lying on the floor”, he said.
Bangladesh has been reeling from a deadly wave of attacks in the last three years, including on foreigners, rights activists and members of the country’s religious minorities.
The investigators also found his involvement in the Sholakia attack on the July 7 Eid day that killed four people, including two constables, an attacker, and a local woman.
“Combating terrorism will be a top item on the agenda when Secretary Kerry meets Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali in his first official visit to Bangladesh today”, a highly placed diplomatic source told The Daily Star.
The Dhaka Tribune, citing Bangladeshi police, said Chowdhury arrived from Canada in 2013 to re-organize the JMB.
Officers raided the house acting on a tip that it was hideout used by Chowdhury and other militants, he said.
According to their families and friends, the two were hostages, not attackers, and were detained immediately after the shooting and never released.
Khan was taken in for questioning immediately after the attack, and police formally announced his arrest at the beginning of August.
The operation, two days before USA secretary of state John Kerry’s visit, is significant for the Hasina government.
The cafe attack has prompted foreigners, including potential investors, to leave Bangladesh – sparking worries for its garment industry, the world’s second largest after China.
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Now, Bangladeshi authorities say Chowdhury is “a leader of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a new branch of the domestic terrorism outfit that produced the café attackers and is affiliated with the Islamic State”, as The Washington Post reported.
