Bangladesh’s law enforcers killed at least 11 suspected militants in three separate raids in Gazipur — in Dhaka’s outskirts — and in northern Tangail district on Saturday as part of their anti-terror campaign.
The raids on militant hideouts by both the Rapid Action Battalion and the Counter Terrorism Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police were conducted as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to clamp down terrorism with an iron fist.
“Our government has always taken stern action against terrorism and militancy and would continue to curb the twin demons with an iron hand... there would be no place of terrorism and militancy on the soil of Bangladesh,” she said while addressing devotees at Dhakeswari National Temple, Dhaka, on Saturday.
The 11 militants, believed to be members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were killed in three raids on militant hideouts on the outskirts of the capital, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters. Seven of them were killed in a raid on one hideout after police were tipped off that the JMB’s Dhaka unit chief and his associates were there.
(With inputs from Reuters)
