2016 Dhaka cafe attack mastermind killed in gunfight, say Bangladesh police
Nurul Islam Marjan and another militant were gunned down during the encounter.
The prime suspect in the July 2016 Dhaka cafe attack was killed in a gunfight by the Bangladesh counter-terrorism police on Friday, Reuters reported. Nurul Islam Marjan was killed along with another militant in a pre-dawn raid in Dhaka’s Rayer Bazar neighbourhood, the Dhaka Police said.
The police said they found the bodies of Marjan and another militant, but that it was not clear whether Marjan had committed suicide or was killed in the encounter, AFP reported. Marjan was on the police’s wanted list and was believed to be one of the masterminds behind the attack on July 1, 2016, in which 20 civilians and two police officers were killed. Marjan had disappeared from his house a year ago. His wife and two other women militants were arrested by the Bangladesh police in September last year.
In August last year, another mastermind behind the Dhaka attack, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury was killed in an encounter. So far the police claims to have gunned down at least 40 militants linked to the cafe attack. While the Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the attack, the Bangladesh police insisted it was Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh that was behind it.