According to sources, a team of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and other forces conducted a drive in a three-storey building near the graveyard of Paikpara in the morning.
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One of the three militants killed by Bangladeshi security forces in connection with July’s Dhaka cafe attack came from a posh area of the city like some of the attackers and went to a prestigious foreign university, the police have said.
Talking to reporters at the scene, the Inspector General of Police said the operation was carried out under codename “Operation Hit-strong 27” in which police’s elite SWAT conducted the main part. “The face of one of them completely matched with the photograph of Chowdhury, which made us sanguine that he is the man”, he said.
CHUUK STATE – The US Coast Guard said two stranded mariners were rescued Friday after crews saw their “SOS” in the sand on an uninhabited island in Micronesia, Hawaii News Now reports. Both Hossain and Rabbi were around 25, police said.
He said the landlord extended cooperation in carrying out the raid.
Bangladeshi authorities have said Chowdhury planned the July 1 assault on the Holey Artisan Bakery, a restaurant popular with expatriates and middle-class Bangladeshis.
On July 1 evening, a group of Islamist militants killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners at the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka.
Chowdhury is also suspected to be behind a July 7 attack on an Id gathering outside Dhaka marking the end of Ramzan, he said. Six gunmen were also killed.
The cafe attack killed 20 hostages and two police officers.
Tamim lived in Windsor, Canada from where he returned to Bangladesh on October 5, 2013.
Chowdhury has led and financed efforts to radicalise young Muslims since returning from Canada, officials say.
Police had announced Tk 2 million reward earlier this month for information leading to Chowdhury’s arrest.
Investigators earlier identified Chowdhury as the leader of Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Bangladesh police hailed Saturday’s raid as a major blow to extremists in the Muslim-majority country, which has been reeling from the recent killings.
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The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, though Bangladesh’s government has repeatedly denied that the organization has a presence in the country.
