People trapped as police lay siege to new Ctg ‘militant den’

Two other dens busted on Wednesday

At least 20 people of seven families, including children and women, were trapped inside their flats as members of Neo JMB holed up inside a flat of a two-storied building, ‘Chayaneer’, in Chowdhury Para area of Sitakunda in Chittagong while filing this report around 1:30am Thursday.
The raid at Chayaneer comes after police busted two other militant dens at Sitakunda upazila earlier in the day. Police raided the building acting on information derived from those detained during the raids.
Banshbaria Union Parishiad member Md Selim, who lives in one of the flats of Chayaneer, said eight members of his family remain trapped inside his flat as they do not have any scope to come out as militants were exchanging gunshots with the law enforcers intermittently.  
Son of the building owner Md Mahiuddin said there are eight flats at the building and the suspected militants rented one of the flats two months ago. He also aid that four people live in the flat the suspected militants rented out.
Superintendent of Police (SP) in Chittagong Nur-e-Alam Mina said there were children and women along with elderly people trapped inside the building and that was why they had been waiting laying a siege to the house.
While talking to this correspondent around 11:50 last night, the SP said policemen, including members of a SWAT team from Chittagong and RAB, were cordoning the building off for hours.
Another team of SWAT was on the way from Dhaka and they will be joining the existing law enforcers to ward off the situation.
The police had been waiting with patience and they had used loud speakers several times asking the suspected militants to surrender without doing harm to any of those trapped inside the other flats. The police had also requested those trapped inside to maintain calm and wait inside their respective flats keeping the entry and exit points shut.
Earlier at night, the suspects hurled ‘grenades’ at police while the law enforcers were urging the militants to surrender through loud speakers.
Earlier grenades were hurled at police asked the militants to surrender using loud speaker but the militants hurled grenades targeting the police.
Earlier in the day, police busted two ‘militants den’ in Sitakunda .
At first, the law enforcers arrested a suspected militant couple with a three-month-old child and recovered grenades and explosives from a house at Lamar Bazar Amirabad area at Sitakunda. Police surrounded another house in Premtala area around 6:30 pm.
Suspected militants lobbed handmade bombs on the policemen when they were trying to enter the house in Premtala, said SP Mina. Two policemen, including the OC (investigation) of Sitakunda police station, Mozammel Haque, suffered splinter injures there.
Police said there were three or four people, including a child and a woman, in the house. “We were informed about the militants’ dens in the afternoon. We surrounded the houses and started a flush-out drive,” said the SP.
In the house named ‘Sadhan Kutir’ in West Amirabad, police detained a couple along with their three-month-old child. They seized foreign-made pistols, grenades, and bomb-making materials, said additional SP (North) Mosiudwala Reza.
Police started the first drive around 3pm and completed it at 5:30 pm. “The flush-out drive is still going on in the other house at Lamar Bazaar from which militants hurled bombs at the police,” said Reza at 6 pm.
Police said four people had rented the ground floor of the two-storied ‘Sadhan Kutir’. They had given fake National Identity Cards to the owner of the house.
When the owner asked them to leave, they allegedly tried to attack the owner.
Being informed, police went to the spot and surrounded it. A woman was detained along with her child. On the basis of the information given by the woman, the police conducted a drive at the house in Premtala.
Sensing the presence of police, the militants hurled a handmade bomb on them, injuring Haque. Then, police called for reinforcements and surrounded the house.
On March 8, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Dhaka busted a hideout of neo-JMB members at a house named Ridwan Villa at College Road. They seized 29 grenades, nine machetes, 280 metal balls, 40 packages of bomb-making gel, a large amount of bomb-making material and explosives, nine black kurtas and a banner inscribed with ‘Allahu’ in Arabic. Two persons were arrested in this connection.
The CTTC had conducted the drive on the basis of information from a militant named Hasan, who had attacked the police at Chandina in Comilla on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

People trapped as police lay siege to new Ctg militant den

Two other dens busted on Wednesday

At least 20 people of seven families, including children and women, were trapped inside their flats as members of Neo JMB holed up inside a flat of a two-storied building, Chayaneer, in Chowdhury Para area of Sitakunda in Chittagong while filing this report around 1:30am Thursday. The raid at Chayaneer comes after police busted two other militant dens at Sitakunda upazila earlier in the day. Police raided the building acting on information derived from those detained during the raids. Banshbaria Union Parishiad member Md Selim, who lives in one of the flats of Chayaneer, said eight members of his family remain trapped inside his flat as they do not have any scope to come out as militants were exchanging gunshots with the law enforcers intermittently. Son of the building owner Md Mahiuddin said there are eight flats at the building and the suspected militants rented one of the flats two months ago. He also aid that four people live in the flat the suspected militants rented out. Superintendent of Police (SP) in Chittagong Nur-e-Alam Mina said there were children and women along with elderly people trapped inside the building and that was why they had been waiting laying a siege to the house. While talking to this correspondent around 11:50 last night, the SP said policemen, including members of a SWAT team from Chittagong and RAB, were cordoning the building off for hours. Another team of SWAT was on the way from Dhaka and they will be joining the existing law enforcers to ward off the situation. The police had been waiting with patience and they had used loud speakers several times asking the suspected militants to surrender without doing harm to any of those trapped inside the other flats. The police had also requested those trapped inside to maintain calm and wait inside their respective flats keeping the entry and exit points shut. Earlier at night, the suspects hurled grenades at police while the law enforcers were urging the militants to surrender through loud speakers. Earlier grenades were hurled at police asked the militants to surrender using loud speaker but the militants hurled grenades targeting the police. Earlier in the day, police busted two militants den in Sitakunda . At first, the law enforcers arrested a suspected militant couple with a three-month-old child and recovered grenades and explosives from a house at Lamar Bazar Amirabad area at Sitakunda. Police surrounded another house in Premtala area around 6:30 pm. Suspected militants lobbed handmade bombs on the policemen when they were trying to enter the house in Premtala, said SP Mina. Two policemen, including the OC (investigation) of Sitakunda police station, Mozammel Haque, suffered splinter injures there. Police said there were three or four people, including a child and a woman, in the house. We were informed about the militants dens in the afternoon. We surrounded the houses and started a flush-out drive, said the SP. In the house named Sadhan Kutir in West Amirabad, police detained a couple along with their three-month-old child. They seized foreign-made pistols, grenades, and bomb-making materials, said additional SP (North) Mosiudwala Reza. Police started the first drive around 3pm and completed it at 5:30 pm. The flush-out drive is still going on in the other house at Lamar Bazaar from which militants hurled bombs at the police, said Reza at 6 pm. Police said four people had rented the ground floor of the two-storied Sadhan Kutir. They had given fake National Identity Cards to the owner of the house. When the owner asked them to leave, they allegedly tried to attack the owner. Being informed, police went to the spot and surrounded it. A woman was detained along with her child. On the basis of the information given by the woman, the police conducted a drive at the house in Premtala. Sensing the presence of police, the militants hurled a handmade bomb on them, injuring Haque. Then, police called for reinforcements and surrounded the house. On March 8, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Dhaka busted a hideout of neo-JMB members at a house named Ridwan Villa at College Road. They seized 29 grenades, nine machetes, 280 metal balls, 40 packages of bomb-making gel, a large amount of bomb-making material and explosives, nine black kurtas and a banner inscribed with Allahu in Arabic. Two persons were arrested in this connection. The CTTC had conducted the drive on the basis of information from a militant named Hasan, who had attacked the police at Chandina in Comilla on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.