5 days of death and terror comes to an end

After five painstaking days that included a suicide attack on a crowd and numerous other explosions, the raid on a militant den in the Shibbari area of Sylhet has finally ended through a combined effort of Army’s Para-Commando battalion, CTTC, SWAT, RAB and police. Ten people, including four militants, have died in these five days, while more than 40 people have been injured. Earlier in the day, a huge explosion triggered by refrigerator rigged with IEDs left the building structurally unstable, said military intelligence unit Director Brig Gen Fakhrul Ahsan. Ahsan officially called an end to the operation at a press briefing around 8pm on Tuesday although there are live IEDs on the second, third and fourth floor of the building. The Criminal Investigation Department of the police will now take over the site to defuse the explosives. The bodies of four militants, including a woman, were recovered from the hideout and sent to MAG Osmani Medical College for autopsy. The autopsy was conducted by a 4 member team under the direction of Dr Shamsul Islam. Two of the bodies, including that of the female, were handed over on Monday, but handover of the other two bodies were delayed till on Tuesday as they were still wearing suicide vests. It is suspected that one of the male militants is New JMB leader Mainul Islam Musa, but law enforcers were not ready to confirm it before the autopsy report. The initial autopsy report on the female militant suggested she was one Morjina. Morjina’s ID was used to rent the flat, and she is also suspected to be the sister of Kamal, one of the deceased New JMB militants from the recent raid in Sitakunda. However, police are as yet unclear as to whether this is her real name. Police said that identification of the militants was proving difficult as the bodies were unrecognizable. Morjina was so badly burned that it could only be discerned that she was female through henna on her toenails, while the faces and bodies of the others were mangled. The raid had begun on early Friday after police had cordoned off the area around the militant hideout, Atia Mahal, at 1:30am, upon information received during the recent raid in Sitakunda, Chittagong. The Brigadier General said a number of factors contributed to ensuring that this particular raid would not be over quickly. Foremost among these was the “well trained and well equipped” militants, who had managed to rig the entire building with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he said. SWAT had made the initial assessment before requesting assistance from the army. The five-storey building had 6 flats on each floor, totalling 30 flats. Of these, families were staying in 28 flats. The trapped families were rescued on Saturday morning through the efforts of the para-commandos. A total of 78 people were rescued from the building, including 30 males, 27 females and 21 children. Saturday, however, would not end on such a happy note. Six people, including two suspected bombers and two police officers, were killed and more than 40 people injured in what was initially described as twin “suicide” blasts. The intelligence chief of RAB Lt Col Abul Kalam Azad was also seriously injured in the explosion and is now undergoing treatment in Singapore. Law enforcers on Sunday said the explosions may have been triggered by a “time bomb-like” device found in a bag no more than 250 metres from Atia Mahal. A case was filed in this regard on Monday.