Dhaka – Limbs of at least 7-8 bodies were found scattered as the operation ‘Hitback’, carried out by Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, at Nasirpur den in Moulvibazar Sadar upazila ended inside on Thursday.
Police suspected that all of them were killed in suicide blasts on Wednesday.
“When the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team started the operation Hitback on Wednesday, we heard a big blast from the den. We think the militants killed themselves along with their family members by exploding bombs,” Monirul Islam, chief of Coutner Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told a press conference at Nasirpur on Thursday afternoon.
He said they resumed the operation, which was postponed on Wednesday night, around 12 noon. “Before resuming the drive, we had sent a drone to the den to get ideas about the overall situation. The drone detected Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) installed inside the house,” he added.
Later, the SWAT team stormed the militant hideout and found the limbs of 7-8 people, including women and children, scattered here and there of the house, he said, adding that the militants along with their family members might have killed themselves by exploding bombs.”
“We’re primarily sure the slain militants are members of Neo JMB and they had communication with the militants who were killed at Atia Mahal in Dakkhin Surma upazila of Sylhet district,” the CTTC chief said.
Replying to a query, he said they found the militant den while investigating the double blast incident taken place near Atia Mahal, another militant den.
Monirul later announced the end of the Nasirpur operation.
He also said they will launch the assault on Friday on another militant hideout at Barohat which the law enforcers kept cordoned off since early Wednesday. “The SWAT team was heading towards Barohat where police have condoned off another suspected militant den,” he said.
In the early hours of Wednesday, police cordoned off the two suspected militant dens.
Later, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and CTTC joined the police and launched the joint drive at the militant hideout at Nasirpur around 6:15pm.
Besides, the local administration shut down all the educational institutions in and around the spots for ensuring the security of civilians, police said. Police evacuated the residents of the area safely.
It also imposed section 144 in Barohat area and within a 2-km radius of the ‘militant den’ at Nasirpur.
Meanwhile, police kept another building in Comilla cordoned off suspecting it to be a militant hideout.
Nearly eight hours after Bangladesh Army officially called off its operation at ‘Atia Mahal’ in Dakkhin Surma upazila of Sylhet on Tuesday night, police cordoned off the two houses.
Ten people, including four militants and two police officials, were killed and at least 40 people injured in three incidents, including a bomb blast near Atia Mahal during the operation.
The new militant dens were busted following information ‘gleaned’ from a couple – Jahirul Haque alias Jashim and his wife Arijna Begum alias Aklima — during a drive at a militant drive at Paschim Amirabad in Sitakunda upazila on March 15.
The following day, four suspected militants and a child were killed during a special raid by joint forces on a militant hideout at Premtala, some 2 km from Amirabad.
The dead include Jahirul’s sister Jobaida, her husband Kamal Uddin and their six-year-old boy.
It was suspected that Jahirul’s another missing sister Monjiara Begum alias Morjina is among the four militants killed in the Operation Twilight at ‘Atia Mahal’.
Only a day later on March 17, a youth blew himself up at a forces barrack of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Ashkona in the capital.
Besides, another youth was killed in an explosion near the Airport police outpost at Airport road, some 150 yards off the Rab forces barrack, on March 24.
source:UNB
