Police on Tuesday foiled another ‘mass attack’ bid in Bangladesh, reeling under a wave of deadly terror assaults, by killing nine Islamist militants during a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here.
The hour-long raid was launched at 5:51 AM (local time) at Jahaz building in Kalyanpur area by special police units.
The militants, aged between 20 and 25 and suspected to be members of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), opened fire on police during the operation.
“From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident,” national police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque told reporters.
Police said the men wore the same clothing and backpacks as the group that carried out the Bangladesh’s worst terror attack at a cafe here.
The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the Greatest).
Two more presumed extremists, including one with bullet wounds, were arrested from the scene, he added.