The mastermind of the Dhaka Café attack today killed in an encounter. Bangladeshi security forces raided a militant hideout in Naraynganj on the outskirts of Dhaka. They killed three Islamist militants including Canadian- Bangladeshi Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the mastermind.
Counter-terrorism Unit’s (CTU) Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanowar Hossain was quoted as saying by the bdnews24.com, “The gunfight erupted this morning after police started raiding a building at Naraynganjs Pikeparha.” This is the second major crack down after the nine suspected terrorists were killed in Dhaka last month.
Earlier, the unit’s chief Monirul Islam stated that the raid was carried out based on the informations which were gathered from an arrested militant from the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Superintendent of Narayanganj police Mainul Haq was quoted as saying by The Daily Star that a joint team from police headquarters, district police and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit raided the house on the information that a group of militants were staying there. He said the militants started fire from inside as the security forces tried to enter the house.
Three years ago, Tamim Chowdhury had returned to Bangladesh from Canada and since then he took the job to radicalize young Muslims. According to police, before coming to Bangladesh in 2013 he might have developed a network of financiers abroad.
The investigators found that he was involved in the attack of Sholakia on the day of Eid, 7th July which killed four people. He was also the mentor of the nine militants who were killed last month in a police operation.
Earlier this month, police had announced a reward of BDT 2 million for information of Tamim Chowdhury. As a nationwide search was ongoing to track Chowdhury, the police chief earlier told PTI that Dhaka alerted Indian security agencies against his possible intrusion to India.
The Dhaka café attack was the deadliest militant attack in Bangladesh. Five militants took hostages of the café and killed 20 hostages including 18 foreigners on the night of 1st July in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighborhood.
The IS claimed the responsibility and the gunmen were posing with IS flags in images on a website affiliated to the militant group.
