3 Islamists killed in B’desh as Hindu priest murdered

The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.

Two operatives of JMB were killed in a shootout with police detectives here while another member of the same outfit was killed in a gunfight with police in the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.

“The two were killed in a predawn encounter at Kalshai area (in the capital)... they first fired gunshots, prompting our detectives to retaliate as they raided the area on a secret tip-off,” Dhaka police’s spokesman Masudur Rahman said.

The two are said to be involved in several recent attacks including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, police said. The two militants succumbed to their bullet wounds as doctors declared them brought dead. The third operative was gunned down in a “gunfight”, hours after he was arrested from the outskirts of the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.