Windows and wall of the third floor of Hotel Olio International at Panthapath fell apart after an extremist blew off himself inside a room of the hotel in the face of law enforcers.– Sourav Lasker
A suspected extremist was killed during an operation codenamed ‘Operation August Bite’ by police at a suspected hideout at a hotel near Square Hospital at Panthapath in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Saiful Islam, 21, of Noakathi village under Dumuria upazila in Khulna. He
was a fourth year honours student at political Science department at Government BL College in Khulna city
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes unit chief Monirul Islam said that Saiful was a member of a new faction of banned extremist outfit Jammatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and also involved in the politics of Islami Chattra Shibir, student front of Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said that the members of counter-terrorism unit had kept the suspected
den of extremists at the four-storied Hotel Olio International at Panthapath from 4:00am.
Later, members of Special Weapon and Tactics, Detective Branch of police, Armed Police Battalion, Crime Investigation Department’s bomb disposal unit and crime scene unit and fire service members reached the spot, he said.
Local people and police officials said that the law enforcement agencies had suspended traffic movement from Panthapath crossing to Russel Square establishing temporary barricade from early morning.
None were also allowed to go near the spot.
They said that at about 9:45am, a bang was heard from the hotel that broke off a big portion of the third-floor’s front wall and railing and fell on the adjacent road.
Frequent gunshots were heard at the time and panic gripped the area, local people said.
Later, four fire-fighters were seen to rush a youth having blood on his forehead from the spot to Square Hospital.
Monirul said that the youth was a pedestrian and his injury was minor.
After 11:00am, inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Hoque at a briefing on the spot said that the counter-terrorism unit came to know that extremists had planned to kill hundreds of people in suicide bomb attack on the processions centring Dhanmondi 32.
‘Since yesterday, the CTTC detectives followed them and could identify their hideout at Hotel Olio International. From the response from one of the rooms of the hotel, we could understand that the person staying in the room was an extremist,’ he said.
He said that when cops began the operation, the suspect exploded an explosive and could break the door and immediately after the explosion, he tried to explode another explosive when cops opened fire.
He claimed that the suspected extremist had suicidal vest and back pack exploding which he committed suicide.
Shahidul said that the explosions blew off all the things in the room as well as the veranda and side wall which indicated that it was a very powerful explosive.
‘Primary information showed that the extremist was Saiful Islam. He is from Dumuria in Khulna. His father is an imam of a local mosque. He had studied at a madrasah and lastly was studying at BL College in Khulna. During his student life, he was an activist of Islami Chattra Shibir,’ he said.
‘If he was not a Shibir man, he could not plan to commit such a destructive act on the national mourning day,’ the police chief claimed.
Monirul Islam at a briefing on the spot at about 12:30pm said that the Operation August Bite ended.
He said that a cell of JMB faction had planned to launch a big attack centring Dhanmondi 32 on the gathering on the occasion of the national morning day.
The counter-terrorism unit chief said that during the block raid, boarder of room 301 of Olio International told the police that he would not open the door before morning and the cops could see his belongings from an outside location and confirmed that he was an ‘extremist.’
He said that the raiders locked the room from outside.
‘When SWAT team advanced towards the room opening fire and poured gas inside the room, he exploded a bomb when the door was broken,’ Monirul said.
Later, the suspect came out with bomb and SWAT members opened fire at him and he also exploded bomb that collapsed nearby walls and killed him, said Monirul.
He said that the police later defused the third bomb.
He said that the extremists wanted to grab headlines of international media to by suicide attack on big gatherings.
‘From the hotel registrar, other information and investigating in his locality, we came to know that his name was Saiful Islam, son of Abul Khayer Molla of Dumuria in Khulna,’ he said.
At about 1:00pm when cops allowed pedestrians to move using one side of the road, a number of glasses of the building’s lower floors and adjacent buildings was found broken, the wall of room 301 of the hotel’s third floor was blown off, its ceiling fan was badly smashed, parts of furniture by the wall and two legs of the deceased could be seen hanging from the collapsed railing of the veranda until it was taken away sometime after 4:00pm.
None of the hotel management could be contacted as police did not allow anyone to enter there.
A counter-terrorism official said that the deceased rented the room on August 13 identifying him as Saiful, a job seeker from Khulna.
Dumuria police station officer-in-charge Md Habil Hossain said that on information from Dhaka, they called Abul Khayer Molla who informed them that his son Saiful went to Dhaka in search of job on August 7.
‘He [Khayer] is the Sahash union unit treasurer of Jamaat,’ Habil said, adding that Khayer was not aware of anything more about his son after he left for Dhaka.
Saiful’s younger sister Irani Khatun at their village home at Noakati said at about 12:30pm that his brother was not involved in any politics and he went to Dhaka with all his certificates 12-14 days ago as someone offered him a job.
Kalabagan police station sub-inspector Aminul Islam said that they sent the body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post mortem examination.
At least 85 suspected extremists, were either shot dead or committed suicide since the police across country intensified operation against extremism since July 1, 2016 Gulshan cafe attack that left 29 people, including 17 foreigners, two police officials, and five suspected attackers, killed.
Source: New Age
