3 suspected militants killed in Dhaka raid

Three suspected militants have been killed in an exchange of fire during a raid by security forces in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka,
police said yesterday.
Benazir Ahmed, head of the crime-busting Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), said the bodies of the suspects were found on the fourth floor of a residential building after the gunfight in the city’s Tejgaon area.
He said the raid was conducted based on intelligence information that suspects had been using the building as one of their hideouts to carry out acts of sabotage.
The building is less
than a kilometre from the prime minister’s office.
Police found a suicide vest, improvised explosive devices and a firearm at the scene, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, spokesman of the battalion, without giving any details about the
suspects’ identity.
The militants fired bullets and threw grenades on the lawmen as they cordoned off the building early in the morning, Khan said adding that the lawmen
retaliated with bullets.
Local residents said they woke up hearing sounds of heavy
gunfire.
The Hasina government has vowed to root out extremism in Muslim-majority Bangladesh in the wake of numerous attacks by radical groups in recent years.
In July 2016, militants stormed a Dhaka cafe and massacred 22 hostages, including 18 foreigners.
That attack was claimed by the IS group, although Hasina’s government denies that international radical groups operate inside Bangladesh.
Since the cafe assault, security forces have shot dead more than 70 alleged militants in a major crackdown.