Woman blows herself up as Dhaka police raid apartment
Dhaka: Police said a woman militant was killed herself and two offsprings of other militants were injured as the woman blew up a bomb in a suicide bid to evade arrest during a police raid on a suburban Dhaka apartment on Saturday.
The woman is the wife of absconding militant Sumon, said assistant deputy commissioner of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Sanwar Hossain Sunny.
The other injured include a seven-year-old girl, daughter of slain militant Iqbal, and 15-year-old Afif Kaderi, son of Tanvir Kaderi, who was killed in Azimpur raid in September last, the ADC said adding that the woman might have blasted the bomb at the gate of their room at about 12:23pm.
Meanwhile, Shafi Ahmmed, inspector of the bomb disposal unit of DMP, was injured as the militants hurled a bomb towards the law enforcers at that time.
After the blast, police broke into the apartment where the militants were staying and rescued Iqbal’s seven-year-old daughter. The girl was taken to a hospital.
However, the woman militant and teenager Afif were found unconscious lying on a pool of blood on the floor.
Earlier, two women along with two children surrendered to police at about 9:30am.
One of the women was identified as Jebunnahar Shila, wife of ex-army Major Zahid, who was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with law enforcers at Roopnagar in the capital on September 2 last, said ADC Sanwar Sunny.
The other detained woman was identified as Trishna, wife of absconding JMB leader Musa, he added.
Tipped off that a group of ‘Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)’ were staying at an apartment in a three-storey building at Ashkona of Uttara area in the capital, a team of the CTTC unit cordoned off the building early in the morning, said CTTC unit chief Monirul Islam while briefing reporters on the spot.
He said the JMB members staying on the ground floor of the building have powerful grenades.
The police asked the remaining JMB members in the den to surrender but they are yet to respond to the call.
Md Ali Rubel, a senior officer of International Finance Investment and Commerce (IFIC) bank and a resident of the house, told UNB that Md Jamal Hossain, owner of the house, is an expatriate living in the Middle East. Jamal’s wife and daughter used to live on the second floor of the building.
A team of law enforcers came to the house at about 12:30am and inquired about the inmates of the apartments in the building. Later, the team entered the building and encircled the area at about 1:30am, Rubel added.
DMP Commissioner Md. Asaduzzaman Miah also visited the spot.
‘A team of CTTC started their drive at about 2:00am,’ said the DMP commissioner while briefing the reporters.
Other residents of the building were shifted from the building.

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