DHAKA, Feb 1: Bangladesh Police today said they have arrested four militants belonging to a banned Islamist outfit who carried out the country’s worst terror attack at a popular cafe in Dhaka that killed 22 people, including an Indian girl.
The militants belonging to the Neo-Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were arrested during a raid last night from a house in Jatrabari area where they were staying as tenants under a fake identity, a Rapid Action Battalion spokesman told reporters.
He said the four operatives, inclined to the Islamic State terrorist group, carried out the deadly July 1 cafe attack in Dhaka. One of the militants was an IT expert of the outfit, he added.
A brief RAB statement later said the four belonged to the Sarwar-Tamin group of JMB and of them Ashfaque-e-Azam was in charge of maintaining websites and providing technical support to the outfit.
RAB said they seized two pistols, 21 bullets, four sharp weapons, gun powder and bomb-making materials from the scene.
The development came two weeks after police said they have arrested one of the masterminds of July 1, 2016 attack at Holey Artisan restaurant in Dhaka’s upmarket Gulshan area.
Police at that time said the captured militant’s name was Jahangir Alam but was known in the outfit as “Rajib Gandhi”, adding that he was a major recruiter and planner of the group.
A breakaway faction of JMB constituted the Neo-JMB which was behind the terrorist attack on the Dhaka cafe in which 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed.
An Indian girl was among those killed in the attack. (PTI)
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