Neo JMB leader ‘Akash’ among dead militants: Home minister

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said one of the seven militants killed in today's joint raid in Patartek of Gazipur was identified as Akash.

Akash led the Neo JMB, an offshoot of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, after Gulshan attack mastermind Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury was killed during a raid in Narayanganj on August 27, the minister said.

Kamal said this while addressing a press conference after the joint raid in Patartek this afternoon.

Earlier in the day, seven militants were killed when a joint team of police and Rab conducted a raid at a two-storey house in Patartek area of Gazipur.

Tipped-off, the law enforcers cordoned off the house around 10:00am as the militants were staying there, police said.

The law enforcers, using a loudspeaker, asked the militants to surrender before them but the latter traded gunfire ignoring the call, said Monirul Islam, chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

The joint team then conducted the raid in the house around 11:45am, triggering a gunfight that left seven militants dead on the spot, he said.