Sounds of explosion and gunshots were heard repeatedly with small intervals from 6:00am on Monday and the army commandos continued the operation in Atia Mahal, the suspected extremist den, our Sylhet correspondent reports.
Meanwhile, a sub-inspector of Moglabazar Police Station in Sylhet city filed a case early Monday in connection with Saturday’s blasts against unnamed people.
Earlier, on Sunday, two extremists were killed in the ongoing operation of army commandos along with other security forces in the five-storey building Atia Mahal at Shibbari.
Commando team spokesperson Brigadier General Fakhrul Ahsan at briefing at 5:30pm on Sunday said that two extremists were killed while some others still staying in the building.
‘They [extremists] have assembled huge explosives in a bunker on the ground floor of the building and booby-trapped the entrances of each apartments. So the commandos have yet to manage to get in,’ he said.
The operation would take more time, as the extremists seemed to be well-equipped and well-trained, he added.
‘Our main target was to rescue the residents of the building who were trapped inside it, and we managed to rescue them,’ he said.
Earlier at least six people, including two police officers, were killed in bomb explosions on Saturday about 500 metres from the five-storey building where army commandos were conducting the ‘Operation Twilight.’
Basudeb Banik, additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (south) confirmed the death figures on Sunday.
Of the deceased, four were civilians, he said adding one of them might be the attacker.
Jalalabad police station officer-in-charge (investigation) Monirul Islam succumbed to his injuries at Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital around 2:45am on Sunday. Earlier, Jannatul Fahim, 18, who was injured in the first blast, died at the hospital around 1:00am, our local correspondent reports.
Local administration prohibited public gathering from 12:01am on Sunday around three kilometres area from the suspected extremist hideout Atia Mahal at Shibbari.
Other than law enforcers and their vehicles, local people and vehicles are prohibited in the area until further order.
The first bomb attack came at about 6:50pm on Saturday, after a while the army in Sylhet held a briefing near the suspected extremists’ den about the operation there.
The second round of bomb explosion took place about 150 metres away from the place of the first attack. Cops seized a motorbike near their checkpoint on the Sylhet-Fenchuganj road suspecting it was used by the attackers.
Earlier on Saturday morning, commandos stormed into the house and rescued at least 78 civilians.
The commandos backed by armoured personnel carriers launched the operation after more than 30-hour standoff with the extremists in the five-storey building after counter terrorism officials spotted the hideout, where Rohingya-origin Marjina along with her family members reportedly took shelter.
Police raided the building at 2:00am on Friday and cordoned off the whole area after suspected extremists detonated bombs, police officials said.
Meanwhile, Islamic State news agency Amaq on messaging service Telegram said that the Middle East-base extremist organisation claimed responsibility for two of the attacks including Friday’s blast in which a suspected bomb carrier was killed.
IS has also claimed responsibility for a wave of killings since 2015 including for a major attack on a Gulshan cafe on July 1, 2016 in which 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed.
The government denies any presence of Islamic State in the country, arguing instead that a new faction of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh was behind that and other attacks.
Source: New Age
