DHAKA — Bangladesh police said on Sunday they were hunting more extremist leaders after shooting dead the suspected mastermind of a deadly cafe attack, on the eve of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s first visit.
Security forces stormed a militant hideout outside Dhaka on Saturday, killing three suspected militants including the Bangladesh-born Canadian accused of organizing last month’s attack that killed 22 people, mostly foreigners.
Authorities say that after returning from Canada in 2013, Tamim Chowdhury led a faction of the banned militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), blamed for a series of recent attacks on religious minorities.
Daesh (the so-called IS) claimed responsibility for the July 1 seige of the upmarket Dhaka cafe in which gunmen held hostage mainly Western diners including one American, before killing them.
But police say the homegrown JMB, which has pledged allegiance to Daesh, was behind the raid. They deny the presence of international militant groups.
“We’re hopeful we can now capture and eliminate other extremists including Zia,” assistant inspector general of police, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, said.
Police suspect Zia, a former army major whose full name is Syed Ziaul Haque, heads another local extremist group called Ansar al Islam, blamed for the machete murders of a dozen secular writers and two gay activists.
Kerry is set to arrive in Bangladesh on Monday on his first official visit to try to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism and other issues. — AFP
