Operation Sun Devil ends in Rajshahi

Operation Sun Devil in Rajshahi was officially ended on Friday, after five of a militant family hacked a firefighter to death and detonated suicide vests on Thursday before a surviving militant surrendered. Announcing the completion of the operation at press briefing held at 1:30pm, Rajshahi Range Additional DIG Nisarul Arif said: “Two senior militants – Sajjad and Ashraful – were staying at the hideout. Ashraful, hailing from Chapainawabganj, is a BSC engineer. Sajjad is a local. His son Al-Amin alias Hamza was also a militant.” The DIG added that fake police uniforms, gunpowder, explosives and a pistol were recovered from the hideout. Earlier on Thursday, Godagari police station OC Hibzur Alam Munshi said that police had cordoned off the building in the Benipur area of the upazila around 3am. Subsequently, at around 8:30am on the day, Gunfire and explosions were heard as five militants charged out from the hideout and slashed firefighter Abdul Motin to death before blowing themselves up with suicide vests. OC Hizbur later informed that the five deceased militants were house owner Sajjad, his wife Beli, their sons Al-Amin, 30, and Soheb, 25, and daughter Karima, 18. However, Sajjad’s other daughter Sumaiya surrendered to law enforcement officials with her seven-year-old son and one-month-old daughter at around 11am, having hidden in a paddy field near the house instead of participating in the attack, the OC said. Sumaiya was taken away from the area in a police van around 11:15am. A 12-member bomb disposal unit arrived at the location from Dhaka around 7:30pm, but Rajshahi Range DIG Masudur Rahman announced that the operation had been postponed at 8pm, as low visibility rendered attempts to enter the house dangerous. Operation Sun Devil was then resumed at 8:30am on Friday. According to OC Hizbur, Law enforcement officials recovered fake police uniforms, 11 improvised explosive devices, one pistol, two bullets and one magazine from the militant hideout around 11:30am. Family members of the deceased militants have refused to take the bodies.