At least 33 banned militant outfit members have so far been killed in joint operations of the law enforcement agencies since Army action against militants in Gulshan's Holey Artisan Bakery on July 2.
In the last joint drive of DMP's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit raid, the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) force along with members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch of police killed 11 suspected militants in Gazipur and Tangail on Saturday.
One of the mastermind killed in a raid was identified as Faridul Islam Akash, son of Abu Syed, who allegedly had been trying to reorganise "Neo-JMB" after the death of its coordinator Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury on August 27, police confirmed to the Daily Observer on Sunday.
The main suspected mastermind of the Gulshan café attack, Tamim Chowdhury, was killed in a raid in Narayanganj after Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan and Sholakia Eidgah assaults. Law enforcers have so far killed 33 militants in three months.
After the Gulshan café attack, people were heard saying that there would be no peace in the country. They feared more such attacks. Fortunately, after the Sholakia Eidgah assault, this fear among the common people as gone, at least to some extent.
The concept of militancy in the country changed suddenly with the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 1. The terrorists killed 20 hostages-nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and three Bangladeshis. Two police officers also died while trying to flush out the terrorists.
The attack made people believe that some elements in the country have links with the IS, and that educated modern young men are getting involved in militancy. 'Operation Thunderbolt', a combined drive by the military and joint forces, killed all six attackers.
Nine militants were killed and another was detained with bullet injuries, as security forces raided a terrorist hideout at a multi-storied residential building at Kalyanpur in the capital.
The police blame homegrown militants of groups like Jamaat-ul-Mujahedeen and the Ansarullah Bangla Team for the attacks.
Law enforcers arrested about 1,500 suspects. Some 747 members of the JMB were also arrested; of them 50 were policymakers, 130 Ehsar (full-time) members, 30 general members and 25 suicide squad members.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said most of those who were killed during the raids were members of the outlawed group Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB).
In recent years, a number of people belonging to religious minority groups -- including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Shia Muslims -- have been killed in attacks by JMB and Ansar al-Islam, another militant group.
