Security forces in Bangladesh killed 11 suspected members of an Islamist militant group in an ongoing crackdown against extremism in the country.

On Saturday, Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the suspects were members of the banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), blamed for an attack on a cafe in the capital Dhaka in July. Twenty-two died in the attack, including 17 foreigners.

Acting on tips, security forces raided suspected hideouts in the Gazipur suburb just outside Dhaka early Saturday morning.

"We requested them to surrender but they opened fire at our officers, which prompted them to retaliate," Khan said, adding that forces “seized money from these extremists that they got through robbery.”

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Firearms, meat cleavers found



Firearms, bullets and meat cleavers were found during the raids, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion involved in Saturday’s operations.

Police have killed more than 35 suspected militants in shootouts since the cafe massacre, including its presumed mastermind, 30-year-old Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the cafe attack, but authorities have denied that, saying it was a JMB plot, and that IS has no presence in the Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Long dormant after its top leaders were executed in March 2007, the JMB has recently regrouped with young, university-educated extremists taking the leadership.</s>world

Updated: Oct 08, 2016 22:32 IST

Bangladeshi security officials on Saturday killed 11 suspected militants of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in three separate raids as the country reinforced its counter-terrorism efforts.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the operations were carried out at Gazipur near the national capital, and in Tangail district.

Acting on a tip-off, teams of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police's counter-terrorism unit took part in the raids.

Kamal said the suspects were members of the outlawed JMB, blamed by the government for a spate of attacks across the country.

The raids took place at Patartek and Harinal areas of Gazipur and in Tangail district. Security officials recovered an AK-47, bullets, bomb-making materials and meat cleavers from a spot in Gazipur.

“Akash”, a new leader of the splinter group "Neo JMB" was among those killed in the raid at Patartek, Khan said. Officials said Akash became the leader of the Neo JMB after Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Canadian, was killed with two accomplices in a similar raid at Narayanganj district in August.

Officials said the militants were preparing to carry out attacks during the Durga Puja festival, which is going on in full swing in the Muslim-majority nation.

Bangladesh was stunned after Islamist extremists killed 20 hostages, including an Indian national and 16 more foreigners, during a siege at Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1.

Since then, security agencies have killed at least 32 suspected militants in raids in Dhaka and elsewhere.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack but the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected the claim and said the Sunni extremist group has no presence in the country.

First Published: Oct 08, 2016 18:38 IST</s>DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladeshi security forces on Saturday killed 12 members of an Islamist militant group blamed for a deadly attack on a cafe in Dhaka in July, senior officials said.

Most of the militants were killed in a three-hour gun battle as security forces raided four hideouts on the outskirts of Dhaka, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.

The dead were believed to be members of a new faction of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), known as New JMB, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, authorities said.

Seven militants were killed in one raid after police were tipped off that the JMB’s Dhaka unit chief and his associates were there.

“We requested them to surrender but they opened fire at our officers instead and also exploded grenades,” Khan said.

The dead included JMB’s Dhaka military commander, known as Akash, he said. “We are trying to find out his real identity,” Khan added.

Police said the banned group’s suspected financier, Abdur Rahman, died when he leapt from a fourth-storey window as he tried to escape. Three million taka ($38,000), a firearm, ammunition, explosives and a mobile phone jammer were found in his house.

Three police officers were wounded in the operations, which also netted a large amount of explosives, weapons and machetes.

The July 1 attack in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter killed 22 people, mostly foreigners, and was claimed by Islamic State.

Bangladesh has been hit by a spate of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the past year. Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims over the attacks.

Police have killed more than three dozen suspected militants in shootouts since the cafe attack, including its presumed mastermind, Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

The government has consistently denied the presence in the country of any transnational militant organisation such as al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Police believe that New JMB was involved in organising the cafe attack.

Policemen patrol outside the Holey Artisan Bakery and the O'Kitchen Restaurant as others inspect the site after gunmen attacked, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 3, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File photo

While authorities blame the violence on domestic militants, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the cafe attack suggested links to a transnational network.

The United States believes elements of Islamic State are connected to operatives in Bangladesh, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Dhaka in August.

The targeting of foreigners could hurt foreign investment in the poor South Asian economy, whose $28 billion garments export industry is the world’s second-largest.</s>Bangladesh's Special Weapons and Tactics policemen return after a raid in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016.

NEW DELHI — Security forces in Bangladesh killed at least 11 suspected militants in three separate raids Saturday in an ongoing crackdown against Islamic extremism in the South Asian nation, a top government official said.

The suspects were members of the banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, which the government has blamed for a deadly attack in July at a restaurant in Dhaka, the capital, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

The men were killed in operations in the Dhaka suburb of Gazipur and the central district of Tangail, Khan said.

Officials said the raids began Saturday morning based on information that the militants were in the areas.

Security forces asked the militants to surrender, but they refused and began firing, and the security forces fired back, Khan said.

Some firearms, bullets and meat cleavers were found during the raids, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, which was involved in the operations.

Khan said one of the men killed in Gazipur was identified as Akash, a militant who had taken over the JMB's leadership after former leader Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi Canadian who fought in Syria for the Islamic State group, was killed along with two associates in a raid in August.

Chowdhury was thought to be the top leader of what the security agencies called the "New JMB."

Bangladesh has recently been hit by Islamist extremists, with the July 1 restaurant attack leaving 20 hostages dead, including 17 foreigners. Since that attack, the government has intensified its crackdown on suspected militant groups and killed some top JMB leaders.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the restaurant attack, but authorities have denied that, saying that it was the act of JMB, and that the IS has no presence in the Muslim-majority country.</s>NEW DELHI (AP) — Security forces in Bangladesh killed at least 11 suspected militants in three separate raids Saturday in an ongoing crackdown against Islamic extremism in the South Asian nation, a top government official said.

The suspects were members of the banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, which the government has blamed for a deadly attack in July at a restaurant in Dhaka, the capital, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

The men were killed in operations in the Dhaka suburb of Gazipur and the central district of Tangail, Khan said.

Officials said the raids began Saturday morning based on information that the militants were in the area.

Some firearms, bullets and meat cleavers were found during the raids, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, which was involved in the raids.

Bangladesh has recently been hit by Islamist extremists, with the July 1 restaurant attack leaving 20 hostages dead, including 17 foreigners. Since that attack, the government has intensified its crackdown on suspected militant groups and killed some top JMB leaders.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the restaurant attack, but authorities have denied that, saying it was the act of JMB, and that the IS has no presence in the Muslim-majority country.</s>Neo-JMB is said to be ideologically linked to the ISIS which had claimed responsibility of the attack on Dhaka’s Holey Artisan restaurant on July 1 in which nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American, an Indian and five Bangladeshis, including two police officers, were killed.

Four suspected Islamist militants were killed in two separate raids by the forces on their hideouts here on Saturday.

The militants were killed after elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) acted on a tip-off and conducted near-simultaneous raids in Gazipur and central Tangail district.

“Four members of the neo-JMB [Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh] were killed in two separate encounters in [suburban] Gazipur and Tangail,” RAB spokesman Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters.

His comments came as police said a third raid was underway with their counter-terrorism unit laying a siege on a militant hideout at another location in Gazipur.

“We will brief you the details of the outcome [of the raid] later,” a police spokesman in Dhaka told PTI.

TV reports quoting another official said the special unit raided a house on a tip off that Neo-JMB’s Dhaka region commander ‘Akash’ was hiding there.

Neo-JMB is said to be ideologically linked to the ISIS which had claimed responsibility of the attack on Dhaka’s Holey Artisan restaurant on July 1 in which nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American, an Indian and five Bangladeshis, including two police officers, were killed.</s>The 11 militants, believed to be members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were killed in three raids on militant hideouts on the outskirts of the capital, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.

Seven militants were killed in a raid on one hideout after police were tipped off that the JMB's Dhaka unit chief and his associates were there.

"We requested them to surrender but they opened fire at our officers, which prompted them to retaliate," Khan said.

The July 1 attack in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter was claimed by Islamic State militants and was one of the most brazen in Bangladesh, which has been hit by a spate of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the past year.

The government has blamed domestic militants but security officials say the scale and sophistication of the July attack suggested links to a trans-national Islamist network.

Police have killed more than three dozen suspected militants in shootouts since the Dhaka cafe attack, including its presumed mastermind, Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

The United States believes elements of Islamic State are "connected" to operatives in Bangladesh, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Dhaka in August.

The targeting of foreigners could hurt foreign investment in the poor South Asian economy, whose $28 billion garments export industry is the world's second largest. Nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American and an Indian were among those killed in the July attack.</s>NEW DELHI (AP) — Bangladesh’s home minister says 11 suspected Islamist militants killed in three separate raids outside the capital.</s>Those killed were members of the outlawed group Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan. Authorities have blamed the group for a recent spate of attacks in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.

Different units of the Bangladesh police force raided three houses, two in the Gazipur district close to Dhaka and one in the Tangail district, about 60 miles from the capital.

Nine suspected militants were killed in Gazipur and two in Tangail, said Khan. All were killed in gunfights with police after refusing to surrender, he added.

Police recovered firearms and ammunition from the scenes, Khan said.

Authorities did not disclose the identities of the suspects killed, but Khan said one in Gazipur was a commander of JMB's Dhaka unit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Saturday that her administration is determined to put an end to militancy and terrorism. "We'll not allow any act of terror in the name of religion," she said while visiting Dhaka's minority Hindu community on Saturday. In recent years, a number of Bengalis belonging to religious minority groups -- including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Shia Muslims -- have been killed in attacks by JMB and Ansar al-Islam, another militant group. JMB is a Sunni Muslim extremist group that has pledged its allegiance to ISIS. It aims to transform Bangladesh into an Islamic state based on sharia law. Minister Khan also said at a press conference on Saturday that police are closing in on one of the masterminds of the recent attacks, sacked army Maj. Syed Mohammad Ziaul Hoque. "Major Zia is now under close watch and he may be arrested anytime," Khan said, using a nickname for the major used by intelligence officials. Hoque went into hiding in 2011 after the military accused him of participating in a failed coup. He is believed to be working with Ansar al-Islam.
Raids by security forces on Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh in Gazipur leave 11 militants dead.