Militant commander linked to cafe attack shot dead in B'desh

Bangladesh police on Tuesday shot dead a militant commander of a banned Islamist outfit and a close aide of one of the masterminds of the deadly Dhaka cafe attack in which 22 people, including an Indian girl, were killed.

Abu Musa alias Abu Jar was killed in a "gunfight" with police which acting on a tip-off raided a house in the northern city of Bogra.

"The other militants fled the scene leaving wounded Jar at the scene while doctors declared him dead as we took him to the (nearby) hospital," Zaman said.

"Abu Jar was a close aide of neo-JMB leader Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, one of the masterminds of deadly Dhaka cafe attack who was arrested last month," Bogra's district police chief Asaduz Zaman told reporters.

Zaman said the 32-year-old Jar was the northwestern commander of the neo-JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh).

Police said Jar was involved in the murders of a Muslim and a Christian businessman. However, both the murders were claimed by ISIS.

Twenty two people, including an Indian, were killed when militant stormed the upscale Holey Artisan Bakery and Kitchen restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic zone on July 1 last year.

ISIS had claimed responsibility for the cafe attack. But police believe that New-JMB, which is close to the ISIS, was involved in organising the attack.

The country's security forces have launched a crackdown against militants following the attack, killing around 50 extremists.