The elite police unit earlier said suspect ‘Abdullah’ had agreed to surrender, but he did not while the siege rolled into 22 hours at 10pm on Tuesday.
bdnews24.com Chief Crimes Correspondent Liton Haider and Senior Correspondent Kamal Hossain Talukder said from the scene that smoke was rising from the six-storey house on Mazar Road after the explosions.
They said they also heard several rounds of gunshots. Panic spread among the residents of the area at the time.
Photos from the scene showed huge flames and smoke billowing from the building.
The window grills and balcony walls of the flat on the fourth floor, where the suspects were in, collapsed in the blasts, Fire Service officials said.
RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan said a bomb disposal unit would be sent in once the fire came under control.
He said those in the flat carried out three large explosions. “Some more explosions took place. Maybe from chemicals,” he said.
Several explosions trigger a fire at a suspected terror hideout on Mazar Road, lighting up the area at Dhaka’s Mirpur. Photo: asif mahmud ove
Earlier in the evening, he told the media at the scene that Abdullah agreed to surrender between 7:30pm and 8pm.He said they had contacted him over phone via his relatives.
As time ticked away, RAB officials said Abdullah sent a message saying he needed 30 more minutes to offer Isha prayers.
Around 45 minutes after the blasts, RAB media wing director Khan said they were not sure about casualties in the explosions.
Four RAB personnel were injured by splinters, he said and added they were out of danger.
Rapid Action Battalion handout photo of the scene where bombs were exploded by terror suspects in Mirpur on Tuesday.
In the wee hours of Tuesday, four bombs, including a Molotov cocktail, were hurled at the RAB personnel from the house. No one was injured at the time.Suspect Abdullah has been termed a dangerous militant by RAB. It said Abdullah, his two associates, his two wives and two children were holed up in a flat on the fourth floor of the house.
The elite police unit cordoned off the house on Monday midnight following tip-off from two suspected members of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, detained in Tangail’s Elenga earlier in the night.
The two are brothers and had been making a drone to carry out attacks, RAB said.
A woman is escorted out of a six-storey building, a suspected terror hideout, on Dhaka’s Mazar Road that was surrounded by the Rapid Action Battalion on Tuesday. Photo: asif mahmud ove
Sixty-five residents of the building, including a sister of Abdullah, were evacuated and the utility supply to the house was cut off.Abdullah has been involved in extremist activities since 2005, RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed told reporters.
A long-time resident of Mazar Road, he has a business for selling pigeons. He also repairs computers and other electronics.
“He said he has 50 improvised explosives devices besides other flammable chemicals inside his flat.
“We were targeted with gunfire from that location after we cordoned this place off last night. We believe he also has a pistol,” Benazir said.
