Dhaka – Police Sunday recovered 17 grenades, two live suicide vests, two pistols and the dead body of teenager lying beside unexploded suicide vests from the nest of neo JMB at Ashkona, according to police sources.
Senior police officials suspect that there were plans of a suicide attack by the dead and detained militants.A team of police bomb disposal squad recovered the explosives, arms and dead body from different rooms of Surya Vila after conducting a daylong operation ended at 6:30pm, said deputy commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman.
With this, he said, police recovered 19 grenades and three pistols from the militants’ hideout in the last two days. Two grenades and one pistol were recovered during the raid in the militant den on Saturday.
He said police also recovered bundles of money that was burnt by the militants during the operation. He said they came to know fro the survivors that there was about 12 Lakh Taka to them.
Rahman said all the bombs recovered from the Ashkona militant den have been neutralized.
The police recovered the explosives and arms after conducting thorough search of the rooms for hours. The operation began at 10:30am as a team of police bomb disposal squad went to the militant hideout found grenades the body of the teenager lying on the ground floor of Vila.
The militant boy Afif Quadri was killed during the police operation on Saturday night to flash out the militants from the den.
The law enforcers busted the den of new JMB where a woman blew herself with an explosive vest for the first time in Bangladesh and a couple of others surrendered.
The two women militants who along with two children surrendered before the police stormed the hideout are in the custody of the police under counter terrorism unit.
Meanwhile, Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit told reporters that the law enforcers completed the disposal of 19 bombs and two suicide vests this evening after the daylong raid at the den.
He said the large amount of explosives and arms indicates that the militants were planning to launch a new raid in the city.
“We think that the woman (who exploded the suicide vest) was planning a suicide hit soon,” he added.
Deputy commissioner (counter terrorism unit) of police Muhibul Islam Khan told reporters that the two female militants who with two babies surrendered to the police are in the police custody.
Khan said they might be be produced before the court today after filing a case in this connection.
Earlier, deputy commissioner of counter terrorism and transnational crime (CTTC) unit Proloy Kumar Joardar said a team of police bomb disposal unit went to the militant hideout and resumed operation at about 10:30am after police found the grenades and the vests on the ground floor of a room.
Talking to reporters at the scene, he told reporters that the law enforcers could not recover Afif’s body on Saturday night as gas was coming out of the room.
The autopsy of the female militant Shakira, 35, who blew herself up has been completed, said Shohel Mahmud, assistant professor of forensic medicine department at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
He said splinters, bearing balls and other metallic objects were found in her body during the autopsy and samples from the body’s thigh muscle and hair were taken for DNA tests.
Shakira died in a blast during the police operation at the militant hideout in Ashkona near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
The baby girl, Sabina, survived with serious injuries.
Meanwhile, Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan said the sacked army Major Syed Ziaul Haque and Nurul Islam Marzan would be arrested anytime.
“They (Maj Zia and Marzan) will be arrested anytime as they are under the surveillance,” he said while talking to reporters after attending a function at Shishu Academy in Dhaka city.
Maj Zia and Marzan had allegedly played vital roles in Gulshan café attack and targeted killings.
Police said Maj Zia is the wing chief of banned militant outfit Ansar al Islam and he had a hand in the targeted killings and blogger killings while Marzan was the operational commander of the militant attack at Holey Artisan Bakery café on July 1.
The two women — wife of Major (retd) Jahid, allegedly the trainer of Gulshan and Sholakia attackers, and wife of “Neo JMB” leader Maynul Musa.
Owner of the three-storey building, Jamal Hossain, is a Bangladeshi living in Kuwait.
In another development, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told journalists that police are conducting drives to arrest “Neo JMB” leader Maynul Musa who according to police escaped Saturday’s raid in Ashkona.
Talking to journalists after visiting Kakrail Church, he said they are conducting drives to arrest “Neo JMB” leader Maynul Musa who according to police escaped yesterday’s raid in Ashkona.
“Musa is a listed criminal, drives are going on to arrest him,” he said.
Replying to a question, the DMP chief said that Saturday’s drive was a continuation of measures against militant activities following the attack in Holey Artisan Bakery.
He claimed that the suicide of female militant “not a new phenomenon” in the country and said in the militancy men and women all can be motivated they are members of militant families.
The DMP commissioner said militants collect arms and explosives from local sources and sometimes from abroad and they are investigating this matter.
“We have already been able to contain extremism in the country through carrying out some successful drives…the donors, patrons and supporters have brought under strict surveillance,” he said.
In a primary investigation, we have learnt that the extremists carried out their activities from the Ashkona den following the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery.
Earlier on Saturday, two suspected militants, including a woman, were killed and a minor girl was injured during a police raid on a militant den into a house at Ashkona in capital’s Dakshin Khan area. – Staff Reporter
