Dhaka: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) — Bangladesh’s elite security forces — shot dead a suspected militant in the capital Dhaka on Saturday a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a security forces camp.

The man was killed as he tried to enter a police check-post on a motorcycle armed with explosives.

The incident came days after raids on suspected militant hideouts in the troubled country, which has suffered a series of Islamist attacks in recent years.

‘An unidentified miscreant tried to penetrate RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) 3 check post with motorcycle and explosive at Shekher Jaiga on March 18 at 0435 hours,’ the police said in a statement.

The suspected militant was declared dead after the check-post team opened fire, a police spokesman told AFP.

The attack came a day after a man blew himself up at an RAB camp near Dhaka’s international airport, wounding two policemen.

Bangladesh beefed up security at all international and domestic airports after Friday’s attack, one of the first in recent years against the elite RAB police unit.

Bangladeshi security forces launched a nationwide crackdown on Islamist extremists following a deadly siege at a cafe in Dhaka last year, arresting scores of suspects.

The drive was led by the RAB, which is tasked with tackling militancy and serious crimes in Bangladesh.

Last year’s attack on the Holey Bakery, a cafe popular with foreigners, badly undermined Bangladesh’s reputation as a relatively moderate Muslim nation.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which 22 people including 18 foreign hostages were killed.

The government has denied the presence of IS in the country and blames local extremists.