Blasts kill 6 as troops battle militants in Bangladesh
At least three blasts were heard from inside the five-storey ‘Atia Mahal’ since 9:57am(local time). A huge blast near the building tilted it towards one side, the Daily Star reported
DHAKA: Elite commandos on Sunday battled to neutralise militants holed up in a building rocked by fresh explosions, hours after six people were killed and more than 50 injured in blasts claimed by the IS outside the complex in Bangladesh’s northeastern Sylhet city.
“A ban has been enforced barring entry of ordinary people within the vicinity of the building as final preparations were underway to flush the militants out from their den,” a police officer told reporters on the scene.
At least three blasts were heard from inside the five-storey ‘Atia Mahal’ since 9:57am(local time). A huge blast near the building tilted it towards one side, the
reported, citing its photojournalist who was on the spot. Several gunshots were also heard.
But it is unclear who were firing the shots as army prepared for a final assault. Sylhet-based 17 Infantry Division’s Major General Anwarul Momen is leading the operation code named ‘Twilight’, which was assisted by police’s SWAT and counter-terrorism units. The elite Rapid Action Battalion is also involved. It was not immediately clear whether the blasts were bomb attacks carried out in support of the militants holed up in the building.
Eyewitnesses said sounds of intermittent gunshots and explosions were heard, indicating militants’ response to the security siege that continued for the last three days.
The officials said they were not sure about the number of militants inside the building but hinted that a top militant leader was inside the complex. Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime chief Monirul Islam on Saturday said they got information that Jamaatul-Mujahideen Bangladesh chief Musa along with some other JMB militants were in Sylhet.
The neo-JMB, said to be inclined to the IS, was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe in which 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed.
On Saturday, the first blast happened around 7pm about 400 metres off the building where the militants were holed up. It targeted the onlookers and policemen.
quoted Sylhet Metropolitan Police ADC Jedan Al Musa as saying the blast was a “suicide attack”.
Another blast took place in front of the hideout an hour later. Six people including two police officers were killed in twin blasts.
The dead included two police inspectors and four onlookers, two of them being college students.
Hours later the IS claimed responsibility for the attack through its propaganda news agency ‘Amaq’. The target of the attack was security forces, it said.