Arab News

Bangladesh hunts more extremists ahead of Kerry’s visit

-

DHAKA: Bangladesh police said Sunday they were hunting more extremist leaders after shooting dead the suspected mastermind of a deadly cafe attack, on the eve of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s first visit.

Security forces stormed a militant hideout outside Dhaka on Saturday, killing three suspected militants including the Bangladesh-born Canadian accused of organizing last month’s attack that killed 22 people, mostly foreigners.

Authoritie­s say that after returning from Canada in 2013, Tamim Chowdhury led a faction of the banned militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh ( JMB), blamed for a series of recent attacks on religious minorities.

The Daesh group claimed responsibi­lity for the July 1 siege of the upmarket Dhaka cafe in which gunmen held hostage mainly Western diners including one American, before killing them.

But police say the homegrown JMB, which has pledged allegiance to the IS group, was behind the raid. They deny the presence of internatio­nal jihadist groups.

“We’re hopeful we can now capture and eliminate other extremists including Zia,” assistant inspector general of police, Mohammad Moniruzzam­an, said.

Police suspect Zia, a former army major whose full name is Syed Ziaul Haque, heads another local extremist group called Ansar Al-Islam, blamed for the machete murders of a dozen secular writers and two gay activists.

Kerry is set to arrive in Bangladesh on Monday on his first official visit to try to deepen cooperatio­n on counter-terrorism and other issues.

He will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hold talks with his counterpar­t Mahmood Ali “on a broad range of issues including democracy, developmen­t, security and human rights,” a senior State Department official said.

Kerry will then head to India to co-chair the regular US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bangladesh police hailed Saturday’s raid as a major blow to extremists in the Muslim-majority country, which has been reeling from the recent killings.

 ??  ?? GOOD SHOW: Bangladesh policemen stand in front of a twostory house, (behind in blue), that they raided and killed the three militants in Narayangan­j district near Dhaka on Saturday. (AP)
GOOD SHOW: Bangladesh policemen stand in front of a twostory house, (behind in blue), that they raided and killed the three militants in Narayangan­j district near Dhaka on Saturday. (AP)

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Saudi Arabia