3 ‘extremists’ killed in RAB raid

Three suspected extremists were found dead on Tuesday at a house in remote Madhya Char area under Chapainawabganj Sadar where Rapid Action Battalion members conducted a raid since early hours of the day.
The dead could not be identified immediately.
RAB said the suspected extremists were members of banned extremist outfit Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and they would conduct DNA test to ascertain their identities.
Madhya Char is a char on the River Padma and in the bordering area of Chapainawabganj Sadar and Godagari in Rajshahi.
RAB officials said they cordoned the house in the char and used loudspeaker to ask the suspected extremists to surrender.
A message, sent by RAB to the media around 4:25am, said RAB conducted the raid at the ‘extremist den’ and exchange of fire was continuing.
After an hour, another RAB message said, ‘Extremists had exploded three or four bombs in the den.’
RAB legal and media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan, at a press briefing on the spot in the afternoon, said the raid was conducted as a sequel to the raid at Mirpur extremist den in the capital in early September, reported our correspondent in Rajshahi.
The elite force director said they also recovered three improvised explosive devices, seven detonators, 12 explosive gel packs and two pistols from the den.
He said that they kept the house cordoned since 4:00am and when the elite force asked them to surrender, the suspected extremists threw grenade targeting RAB personnel.
Mufti said that three to four explosions from inside the house could be heard and the explosion caused a fire in the house.
He said that two suspected extremists, identifying themselves as non-government organisation workers and bird enthusiasts, rented the house saying that they would take photos of birds of the char area.
The RAB official said that bomb explosion might cause their death.
A 12-member bomb disposal team of RSB from Rajshahi reached the spot around 10:30am.
Later, they entered the house.
Meanwhile, the elite force detained the house owner Rashidul Islam, his wife Nazma and father-in-law KhorshedAlam from Sabdipur at Godagari in Rajshahi for interrogation.
Local people said Rashidul Islam, who had been suffering from cancer, did not stay in the house for long. 
Rashidul used to live in his in-law’s residence at village Sahabdipur under Godagari upazila in Rajshahi, they said.
Alatuli union parishad chairman Kamal Ahmed Khan told reporters that Rashidul of village Alatuli Natunpara made the house in the remote char years back for cattle raring. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net