Two extremists die in Bangladesh police raid

DHAKA • A suspected extremist blew himself up and another was shot dead after Bangladesh's anti-terrorism officers raided their hideout early yesterday, police said.

The police cordoned off a one-storey building in a remote village in the western district of Jhenaidah after receiving a tip-off that Islamist extremists were holed up there.

"There was an exchange of fire between counter-terrorism police and the extremists. An extremist was killed," district police chief Mizanur Rahman told AFP.

"And when we got closer to the building, another extremist carried out a suicide blast. He died on the spot."

Two police officers were injured in the blast.

The police chief said the extremists were members of a new faction of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

The militant group has been blamed for a wave of deadly attacks against religious minorities and foreigners in the Muslim-majority country.

These include a major attack on a Dhaka cafe last July, in which 22 people were killed, most of whom were foreigners.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria group claimed responsibility for that attack and several others, but the Bangladesh government insists that they were the work of home-grown groups.

The police have arrested scores of suspected extremists and killed more than 60 people since the cafe attack.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 08, 2017, with the headline Two extremists die in Bangladesh police raid. Subscribe