11 members of Dhaka cafe attack group slain

DHAKA: Secuity forces killed 11 members of a militant group on Saturday, most of them dying in a three-hour gun battle on the outskirts of the capital.

Authorities said the dead were believed be members of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), blamed for an attack on a cafe in Dhaka in July in which 22 people were killed, mostly foreigners.

The militants were killed in three separate raids on hideouts on the outskirts of Dhaka, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters. Seven militants were killed in one raid after police were tipped off that the JMB's Dhaka unit chief and his associates were there.

"We requested them to surrender but they opened fire at our officers instead and also exploded grenades, which prompted them to retaliate," Khan said, adding the three-hour gun battle left seven militants dead. "The dead militants include JMB's Dhaka military commander Akash, which is his organisational name. We are trying to find out his real identity."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2016.