Following a two-day stand-off, police Thursday launched ‘Operation Hit Back’ to flush out militants from their hideouts after they failed to convince them to surrender.
A family of eight, including children, committed suicide by blowing themselves up after police stormed a militant den in an eastern Bangladeshi city. The suicide explosion blew up all who were inside the hideout. Monirul Islam, the chief of police’s counter terrorism unit, told reporters that the blast was so powerful that it tore the bodies into pieces, making it difficult for the police to ascertain exactly how many people were inside the militant den in Moulvibazar Sadar upazila, Nasirpur.
The forensic examinations could confirm the casualty figure but we assume they are seven or eight in number, Islam added.
Islam said the police entered the house after a drone was flown into the den to assess the situation and found out that the entire family committed suicide, finding no way to flee the security siege.
Islam said Special Weapons and Tactics unit, backed by elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) kept under siege another Islamist den in the northeastern town.
Today’s operation was launched two days after the chief of neo-JMB, a terror outfit linked to the country’s worst attack in Dhaka, was killed along with three terrorists in ‘Operation Twilight’ in Sylhet.