Terrorists linked to Bangladesh cafe attack killed in raid

DHAKA: Three suspected members of a terrorist group blamed for a deadly cafe attack in Bangladesh last July were killed on Thursday when their suicide vests exploded during a police raid on their hideout, a police official said.

Police said a woman was also among the four dead, who belonged to a faction of the Jamaat-ulMujahideen Bangladesh group, known as New JMB, which they have linked to attacks such as that on the cafe, which killed 22 people, mostly foreigners.

New JMB has pledged allegiance to Daesh, which claimed responsibility for the attack on the cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter, although the government has cast doubt on that claim.

Two policemen were wounded when the terrorists inside a two-story building in Chittagong, about 200 km southeast of Dhaka, showered at least a dozen grenades on them, said police official Mohammad Moniruzzaman.

“The operation is over,” he said. “Our intelligence and bomb disposal and forensic units are now working.”

About 20 residents trapped in the building after Wednesday night’s raid began were taken to safety before the final assault started early on Thursday, Moniruzzaman said, adding that authorities also seized live grenades and a lot of explosives.

“The militants were wearing suicide vests which exploded,” he said, referring to the three men who died.

“We are not sure whether they detonated the vests themselves, or they exploded after being hit by bullets. The woman was shot by us.”