Casualties in the law enforcers’ raid on a ‘neo JMB’ hideout in Chowdhury Para area of Sitakunda under Chittagong yesterday, rose to five. Four suspected ‘neo JMB’ militants, including a woman, were killed at their hideout after a 20-hour siege. Later police found body of a seven-year-old child at the scene. The operation, which began on Wednesday at 3pm, ended around 10am yesterday.
The joint-operation, which was codenamed Operation Assault-16, was conducted by the SWAT, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) Dhaka, Chittagong District police, Rapid Action Battalion and Fire Service and Civil Defence.
The police rescued 20 members of six families, including five children, from the house named ‘Chayaneer’, which was cordoned off from Wednesday 3pm. The suspected militants were living on the ground floor of the building.
Four law enforcers were injured and two SWAT members were wounded yesterday morning. Two policemen also suffered injuries on Wednesday during the operation.
Deputy inspector of police (DIG), Shafiqul Islam, visited the spot after the operation. “We started Operation Assault-16 at 6am. It ended at 10am. When our SWAT team entered the militants’ hideout from a nearby building, two militants shouting “Allahuakbar” launched a suicide attack on its members. The militants tried to blast their suicide vests wrapped around their wrists. Seeing this, the SWAT members opened fire on them. Two SWAT members were injured in the explosion,” he said.
“We recovered four bodies from the house. Two militants’ bodies were torn apart and badly mutilated; they could not be identified. However, two others were identified,” he added.
“We rescued the people trapped inside by breaking open the windows of the building. We made several attempts to rescue those inside the building. But it was very difficult as the militants were hurling grenades at us,” he said. “The militants took shelter at Sitakunda as several development projects are being executed there. Foreigners are working in those projects. To carry out sabotage and instil fear among the foreigners, the militants set up their hideout there,” he added. Shafiqul Islam, however, said that the militants did not take the residents hostage.
A huge quantity of explosives and bombs were found inside the flat and on the roof of the building. A bomb disposal unit was working to recover the explosives till the filing of this report at 3:30pm yesterday.
When the operation started yesterday morning, gunshots could be heard from the militants’ hideout and there was panic in the area. Around 6:28am, there was a huge explosion in the building and the roof of the house was blown off.
At 6:45 am, no sounds of gunshots were heard. Around 7am, the police went
inside the building and rescued a one-month-old baby, Arhia Khanam. The baby was admitted to hospital. Around 9am, the trapped people started coming out from the besieged building.
Of those rescued, six were admitted to the Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex. Some of them were released after primary treatment. Ismat Zarin, deputy assistant community officer of the health complex, said: “Those admitted to the health complex fell ill after inhaling the tear gas.”
Abdul Manan, additional commissioner of the CTTC, said the injured SWAT members were out of danger. He, however, refused to reveal their names.
Residents of the house said they had not seen the militants as they always kept their door locked. Anisur Rahman, who lives on the first floor with his family, said, “We panicked as we could hear gunshots and sounds of blast intermittently.”
The house owner, Md Mohiuddin, said the suspected militants took the flat on rent two and half months ago.
On Wednesday, the police had raided a militants’ den named ‘Sadhan Kutir’ at Amirabad of Lamar Bazar area of Sitakunda, half a kilometre away from Chayaneer. The cops detained a couple with their three-month-old child and got information about the militants’ hideout.
Sensing the presence of police, the militants hurled two grenades at them and two policemen were injured. The building was cordoned off from Wednesday at 3pm.  Around 10pm on Wednesday, a SWAT team of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police was deployed at the spot. At 1:30am, yesterday another SWAT team of SWAT joined them. “Operation Assult-16” began at 6am. The police used loud speakers asking the militants to surrender. They also told those trapped inside to maintain calm and wait inside their respective flats.  The militants hurled grenades at the police when the law enforcers urged the militants to surrender through loud speakers.