Militant killed himself during raids in Bangla: Police

From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Sep 11 (PTI) A militant who is believed to haveplayed a key role in carrying out the Dhaka cafe attack inBangladesh that claimed the lives of 22 people including anIndian, killed himself during a raid, police said today. Shamsed Hossain slit his throat on his own using a sharpweapon, a doctor at the forensic medicine department ofstate-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital told reporters afteran autopsy. Police had said earlier that Hossain was killed in anencounter. Three women terrorists and five policemen were alsoinjured in the gunfight. Police’s counter terrorism and transnational crimes(CTTC) unit team carried out the raids at Azimpur area herelate yesterday. Police is yet to officially make any statement about thebackground of the militants belonging to a faction of thebanned Islamist militant outfit, Jamayetul MujahideenBangladesh (JMB). JMB is known for its ideological inclination to ISIS. Police suspects one of the arrested women to be the wifeof a slain ex-army major and militant leader Jahidul Islam whowas killed in an anti-militancy clampdown in suburbanNarayanganj on August 27. "The operation (raid) was carried out on a tip-off thatJahid’s family were hiding in Azimpur. One of the injuredwomen may be Jahid’s wife," Inspector General of Police AKMShahidul Hoque said. Another officer who is familiar with the raid, said oneof the children rescued from the scene could also be theoffspring of the renegade ex-military officer and "we arecontacting related people for confirmation". Police earlier said the ex-major was recruited in JMB byits key-organiser Bangladeshi-Canadian Tamim Chowdhury, whowas killed during the raid Narayanganj last month. At least 28 Islamist extremists have been shot dead byBangladesh security forces since the July 1 Dhaka cafe assaultin which mostly foreigners, including an Indian, were killed.PTI AR AJR AKJAJR