According to the police chief, both Chowdhury and Haque were also behind the attack near the country’s largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue on July 7 and the militants were gunned down in Dhaka’s downtown Kalyanpur area during a raid on July 26.
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“This is a matter of shame for us that a notorious terrorist like Tamim Chowdhury resided near us”, Azizur Rahman, a resident of Paikpara, a section of Narayanganj where the gunfight took place, told a BenarNews correspondent at the scene.
Besides, splinter injuries were seen on the body of Tamim Chowdhury, the mastermind Gulshan attack, and the bodies of the two other militants, he said after conducting the autopsy.
Bangladesh police said they are hunting more extremist leaders after shooting dead the suspected mastermind of a deadly cafe attack on the eve of United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s first visit.
A joint team of security forces, including counter-terrorism forces and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), had cordoned off the building around 9.36 a.m. and the operation lasted an hour.
“The dead are all between the age 20 and 24”. “When we felt that they would not surrender, we made our final push and killed them”.
The sources also said deportation of AM Rashed Chowdhury, a fugitive convicted killer in the Bangabandhu murder case, will be discussed during Kerry’s talks with the PM and the foreign minister.
The police has denied the involvement of Islamic State in the cafe attack and instead blamed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has pledged allegiance to the group active in Syria and Iraq, for organising the assault.
The attack on the upscale Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka killed 20 people, including 17 foreigners.
Police blame the JMB for the deaths of more than 80 foreigners and members of religious minorities over the last three years.
A Reuters report quoted Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan as confirming to reporters that Chowdhury was among those dead.
Other Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh militants are “very few” in number and face imminent arrest, he added.
Police say Chowdhury has led and financed efforts to radicalise young Muslims since returning from Canada three years ago.
Monirul Islam, chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism unit, confirmed the news The Daily Star.
They said the suspects were killed in a raid this morning on a house near the Bangladeshi capital.
Victims of the attacks by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions including Hindus, Christians and Muslim Sufis and Shiites.
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The café attack, which was followed by another strike on an Id congregation after seven days, prompted even Hasina backers to ask whether her government was equipped to tackle the terror elements, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State.
