DHAKA: Bangladesh security forces on Monday killed at least two people suspected of belonging to an Islamist militant group behind a deadly cafe attack in Dhaka in 2016, police said after a raid at a tin-shed hideout in the capital.

Police cordoned off the area after receiving information about the presence of suspected members of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a home-grown militant group that killed 22 people in the cafe attack.

“When our forces knocked on the door, the residents of the house fired at our people instead of opening it,” Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), told reporters. “Then members of the RAB responded. There is still huge amount of explosives and our special force are trying to remove it.” Khan said three people, including the owner of the house, had been detained for questioning.

Bangladesh launched a crackdown on militancy after the cafe attack as part of what Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina calls a “zero tolerance” policy.

Militants attacked the cafe in July 2016, taking 22 hostages, mostly foreigners, who were killed over 12 hours.

“Our bomb disposal unit found the body parts of two militants in the house. The explosion was so powerful that it tore apart the bodies and shook the whole area,” an official said.

Four other people were detained including a caretaker and imam from a nearby mosque, the officer added.Security forces have since staged nationwide raids in which it says nearly 100 members of two extremist Islamist groups have been killed. Hundreds of suspects have been detained.

The South Asian nation has boosted security since the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, which were carried out by jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group that killed 253.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019