IS claims responsibility of blast
Suicide bomber blows up self near Dhaka airport
Joint forces ready for raid on Sylhet militant den
A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up at a police check-post in front of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport intersection in the capital yesterday evening, hours after the Army-led joint forces kept a suspected den of the banned militant outfit JMB in Sylhet cordoned off.
An assistant commissioner of police said the attacker was a suicide bomber who blew himself up in front of the airport intersection around 7:30pm, a claim rejected by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Md. Asaduzzaman Mia.
Islamic State (IS) has claimed the responsibility of the attack, US based SITE Intelligence group revealed the information in a report.
The intersection is away from the airport security area, the AC added saying that only the attacker was killed in the attack. There was no other casualty.
The attacker, an adult man clad in jeans and a shirt, tried to blow up the outpost with explosives in his pocket, said the police. The explosion ripped through the right side of the attackers waist, leaving a gory mess.
A deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) (Detective BranchNorth), preferring anonymity, said, We are going to the spot as we have learnt that the suicide attacker was killed in a suicide blast at the airport crossing.
Atiqur Rahman, assistant police commissioner of DMPs Uttara division, too, said, We received information of a grenade attack which killed the attacker himself. He further said, I dont know the details of the incident.
According to a source, who claimed that he had himself witnessed the attack, said, The attack was actually carried out at around 7:17 pm.
On receiving information, law enforcement agencies, including the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), DB and Criminal Investigation Departments (CIDs) crime scene unit, arrived at the spot and cordoned off the area.
Vehicular movement was halted immediately after the attack. However, at the time of filing of the report, around 9:30 pm, sources at the spot said the movement of vehicles had been restored.
A bag, belonging to the deceased, retrieved after the incident. Law enforcers found several bombs inside the bag. While defusing one of the bombs, a pedestrian was injured last night.
The eyewitness at the spot said, There are two police boxes near the spot. One is led by an assistant commissioner of police (traffic) and the other is a police box manned by a sub-inspector of police.
The in-charge of the police box, SI Mostafizur Rahman, said, The body was torn into several pieces by the blast.
Quoting policemen who were discharging their duties, Airport police officer-in-charge (OC) Nure Azam Miah said: The attacker was passing through the police check-post when he was challenged. It was then that he blew himself up around 7:45 pm. He was around 28 to 30 years old, he added. Contradicting with his juniors, DMP Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia while visiting the spot around 9:30pm said the incident was not an attack.
It is not an attack. The bomb was detonated when a youth was carrying it to handover to another person, the DMP chief said.
As the police took heavy security measures at the cheek post, the carrier possibly tried to be extra cautious, which ultimately led to the blast, he said.
After the attack, additional security measures have been taken in and around the airport.
Earlier, on March 17, a suicide bomber died when his bomb exploded after he was confronted by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel during an attack on a makeshift camp of the elite police force at Ashkona yesterday. His identity could not be ascertained even seven days after the incident. Two RAB officials were also injured.
On March 16, four suspected militants, including a female one, and a six-year-old boy were killed during a special raid by joint forces on a militant hideout at Premtala in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong.
Meanwhile, UNB adds, Joint forces were all set to raid a house, presumed to be a hideout of militants, at Shibbari in Dakkhin Surma upazila. However, while filing this report around 2am, they were yet to access the building. Police cordoned off the suspected militant den in the early hours of Friday asked the suspected militants to surrender.
However, the militants did not surrender till 8:30pm. A team of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit reached the spot around 4pm from Dhaka.
Later, the joint forces comprising district police, and members of SWAT, including a five-member bomb disposal unit, and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) started the preparations to enter the house.
A team of Para-Commando Battalion of Bangladesh Army also went to the spot around 8pm to take part in the drive. On the other hand, the militants talked to police from the house several times from 1 pm to 1:45 pm.
In response to the police request for surrender, a male militant said around 1pm, Send in force. Were on the path of Allah. Send SWAT team as early as possible. Why are you killing time?...we dont have enough time,
said a female voice from the building around 2 pm.
Tipped off, a team of police raided the area and surrounded the five-storey building named Atia Mahal owned by one Ustar Ali around 4:30 am, said Harun-ur-Rashid, officer-in-charge of Dakkhin Surma Police Station.
However, residents of the adjacent houses were evacuated while the shops located in the area were kept closed following the drive, said the OC.
The house owner said a man named Kawsar Ali identifying himself as an officer of private company Pran rented the house in January and his wifes name is Marjina.
