Early Thursday morning, police raided a suspected Islamist hideout in Bangladesh that resulted in a family of five and a fire officer dying. The police managed to rescue two young children.
The raid turned into a shoot out forcing the police to shoot the family dead. In the attack, one of the five stabbed a fire officer who later succumbed to his injuries. Other two members hurled grenades at the police.
Senior Police Officer, Sumit Choudhury reported, “We were surprised by the attack. Two of them threw grenades and another attacked a fire service officer with a sharp rod. He later died in hospital.”
“Five extremists were killed in our shooting. They included a father, his wife, and their two sons and a daughter,” confirmed Sumit Choudhury.
The police received a tip off that led them to Habashpur village in Rajshahi district. The tip off was related to members belonging to the outlawed Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Islamist group that were hiding in the area.
The police rescued a seven year old boy and a two month old baby and suspect one woman is still inside the house.
Among the suspects, their prime suspect was Al Amin alias Hamza, one of the younger sons. The Police are unsure whether the children were adults or not.
The JMB have been associated with a number of attacks on religious minorities in the Muslim majority country. Last July, at Dhaka Cafe 22 people, mostly foreigners were killed by the JMD.
The police have been making efforts to defang the group, in their attempts they have killed nearly 70 extremists since the cafe attack. The Islamist militants pose a huge threat in the conservative country of Bangladesh, where a long standing political crisis that radicalized opponents of the government.
