Staff Reporter :
At least three persons, including an Inspector of Police, were killed and 40 others injured in two separate bomb blast incidents amid the tight security of the law enforcers on the Sylhet-Fenchuganj road in Shibbari area on Saturday evening, police said.
The incident occurred only a quarter kilometer away from the militant den ‘Atia Mahal” of South Surma upazila where raid by joint forces was continuing till filing of this report at 11:00pm, said our local correspondent quoting Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Commissioner Gulam Kibria.
Of the deceased, one has been identified as Md Monir, an Inspector of South Surma Police Station, said Jedan Al Musa, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police. The two other victims were common people, he said.
Police surrounded the spots considering the security issue as thousands of people gathered in the area, the police official said.
Meanwhile, sounds of heavy explosions and gunshots were heard from the suspected militant hideout after five hours as the army commandos alongwith police and SWAT were conducting the operation at the five-storey building.
The joint forces led by Army Para-Commando Battalion launched the assault code named ‘Operation Twilight’ at the militant den ‘Atia Mahal’ in Sylhet’s South Surma Shibbari area on Saturday morning.
The army Para-Commandos led by a Major General launched the crackdown assisted by police’s Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) unit, counter terrorism unit and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), according to him. He said, “GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the Sylhet-based 17 Infantry Division Major General Anwarul Momen is leading the ‘Operation Twilight’ there.”
According to him, the assault began at 9:00am. until 2:00pm, gunfire was heard twice from the scene, but the exchanges of fire intensified afterwards and explosions rocked the area.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Rashedul Hasan, Director of Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), said that Army has requested the media not to telecast the assault live.
The army has codenamed it ‘Operation Twilight’ — a change of name from ‘Operation Spring Rain’ christened by the SWAT, he said.
He said that the soldiers were leading the assault and “the SWAT was only helping them.”
However, intense gun firing was heard from within the hideout after every one to two minutes, starting about 5:00pm. The sound was mostly from the western side of the building, local sources said.
They said, sounds of four ‘grenade’ explosions were heard in Shibbari area at about 2:15pm. And soon after the explosions, army personnel were brought out of the militant den and later army medical core members took them by ambulance.
Militants also hurled a grenade at the roadside. At least six people suffered splinter injuries in several explosions during the operation at a suspected militant den yesterday evening.
Since Friday morning, the law enforcers have cordoned off the five-storey building where suspected militants are believed to have been hiding with a huge cache of explosives.
Around 100 residents remained trapped inside the building ‘Atia Villa’ till Friday night, while police managed to evacuate 70 others from an adjacent four-storey building.
At least two suspected militants — a male and a female — were inside one of the six apartments on Atia Villa’s ground floor in Shibbari area, police said.
Law enforcers couldn’t enter the building as the militant suspects blocked the entrance to the main building with a refrigerator. “We saw the militants trying to attach grenades to the refrigerator,” said an official of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Golam Kibria said, “We called in an observation team of the army to assess how much explosives are inside the apartment … Those explosives could be powerful.”
He said they would conduct the drive with extreme caution, keeping in mind the safety of the residents trapped inside the building. In reply to a query, the policxe official claimed that the situation was under control, and hoped they would be able to convince the suspected militants to surrender.
Lt Col Mohammad Rashidul Hasan, Director of Inter Services Public Relation Directorate (ISPR), told journalists that an observation team from the army went to the scene to assess the situation.
The team would decide whether a Para-Commando team was needed for carrying out a drive, he said.
Meanwhile, Osmani Medical College Emergency Medical Officer Dr Tanvir said that a three-member medical team has been dispatched to the area.
Nazrul Islam, one of the residents trapped on the building’s second floor, said he heard gunshots around 5:30am and later learnt that suspected militants were hiding on the ground floor. Nazrul said he and his three family members were passing time in fear.
Muhibur Rahman, Sub-Inspector of Jakiganj Police Station, said his family was also trapped inside the building.
Police tracked down the Sylhet hideout barely a week after they busted two militant dens in Chittagong.
Seeking anonymity, a high-up of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) said, they increased surveillance in the city following information from counterterrorism officials, and found the hideout early Friday.
Rokonuddin, Additional Police Commissioner of the SMP, told reporters that they detected an anomaly in the tenant’s information and finally tracked down the hideout.
Basudeb Banik, Deputy Commissioner (South) of the SMP, said police cordoned off Atia Villa around 1:30am Friday and disconnected the building’s electricity connection around 5:30am. About half-an-hour later, police, through a hand-mike, asked the militant suspects to surrender.
Around 6:30am, the suspected militants threw a grenade at police from the apartment on the ground floor. Police then fired blanks, said Basudeb.
Later, the male militant suspect shouted, “Send forces.”
Akhtar Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Jalalabad Police Station, said, around 1:30pm on Friday, the female militant suspect yelled from a window of the apartment “Bring SWAT quickly because you won’t be able to do anything to us… We don’t have much time.”
A Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and a bomb disposal unit from the DMP arrived at the scene from the capital around 4:20pm. The joint forces comprise district police, members of SWAT, a five-member bomb disposal unit, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Army commandos.
Besides, members of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Detective Branch (DB) of Police, City Special Branch (SB), Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and other law enforcement are also in the spot.
Urging the law enforcers to free his tenants first, the owner of “Atia Mahal” Ustar Ali yesterday said that he has no objection if his building is damaged for securing safe passage for the trapped people.
Ali had earlier said a couple identifying themselves as Kawsar Ahmed and Marzina Begum rented the apartment three months back. The couple provided all necessary documents, including copies of their national identity cards, said Ali, also proprietor of Atia Travels.
Ali’s son Kawsar Rahman Ripon said Ahmed identified himself as an auditor of a private company.
He also mentioned that he didn’t notice anything suspicious in the couple’s behaviour.
