Staff Reporter :
Identities of the seven people, who reportedly blew themselves up during the ‘Operation Hit Back’ in a suspected militant hideout in Nasirpur of Moulvibazar on March 29, were confirmed by their relatives on Monday.
All of them were members of a single family, police said quoting their relatives.
The deceased were identified as Lokman Hossain, 45, his wife Shirina Akhter, 35, and five daughters — Amena Khatun, 13, Sumaiya, 11, Marium, 10, Fatema, 7, and Khadija, 7 months– hailing from Dangapara village of Ghoraghat upazila in Dinajpur district, said Mohammad Shahjalal, Superintendent of Police in Moulvibazar.
“Abu Bakr Siddique, father-in-law of Lokman, identified them based on the family’s group photo,” the SP said.
Abu Bakr Siddique from Ghoraghat upazila in Dinajpur district, claimed that the seven persons killed during the raid at Nasirpur are the family members of his daughter. Abu Bakr Siddique, however said he had no contact with them for last three years. Abu Bakr said that he received a call from his daughter Shirina at night on March 29 after having no clue where she was for three years. “She asked for forgiveness and said we would never meet again,” he said and added, “When I asked where they were, she said: “There is no way to come here.” The father said he wanted to talk to her husband Lokman, but he refused to speak to him.
Police cordoned off the house owned by an expatriate Bangladesh early on March 29 after receiving information that militants were hiding there. SWAT and police’s counterterrorism unit launched an operation to neutralise the militants the following day. After the assault had ended, counterterrorism unit chief Monirul Islam said the suspects blew themselves up after finding no way to flee.
Abu Bakr wanted to take back the bodies of ‘his daughter and granddaughters but refused to accept ‘Lokman’s body’, saying his son-in-law ‘held his daughter and granddaughters captive’ for three years. The bodies were kept at Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital mortuary. The forensic doctors also collected samples from the bodies for DNA tests during postmortem examination. Lokman’s younger sister Noor Banu said that the family had no contact with him for around eight years, though “everything seemed well after he married Shirina in 2002′.
Banu also believes the man killed in Nasirpur is Lokman. The neighbours showed her a photo of the deceased. She is also willing to take his brother’s body back.
Ghoraghat Police Station OC Israil Hossain said that there was no case against Lokman at his station, but he was accused in a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shibganj in Chanpainawabganj in 2008.
Meanwhile, police on Sunday filed a case under Anti-Terrorism act over the raid at Nasirpur den. Sub-Inspector Shahabuddin filed the case against some unknown persons with Moulvibazar Police Station, said Okil Uddin, Officer-in-Charge of the police station. The local administration on Saturday morning withdrew the section-144 in the area which was imposed on Thursday, the OC said.
In Sylhet, the operation to clean up militant den Atia Mahal began around 8:00am on Monday, said Additional Deputy Commissioner Jedal Al Musa of Sylhet Metropolitan Police.
The bodies of two militants who were killed after a long standoff with security forces at a building in Sylhet’s Shibbari upazila, were recovered in the afternoon, the police official said. “We could not recover bodies of two militants as they were wearing suicide vests,” ADC Musa said. “The bodies were recovered in the afternoon and kept at Osmani Hospital morgue.” He also claimed that police identified one suspected attacker during ‘Operation Twilight’ at Shibbari. The attacker is Ashraful Alam Nazim , from Sonaimuri, Noakhali. The Fire Service and Civil Defense, Sylhet City Corporation, police and a medical team are assisting the bomb disposal unit, he said. Earlier, a bomb disposal unit of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has started defusing explosives inside Atia Mahal, in Sylhet’s Shibbari area. The RAB members entered the five-storey building around 1:15pm, said Jedan Al-Musa. When they are finished, two other teams of the law enforcing agencies including Criminal Investigation Department entered the building to collect evidence and recover two militants’ bodies, the ADC said. On March 24, joint forces comprising police, members of SWAT and a bomb disposal unit took position surrounding the five-storey building there. Four militants were killed at Atia Mahal last week in a joint force operation “Operation Twilight” led by the Bangladesh Army.
