Dhaka – A suspected militant believed to be trainer of the July cafe attack perpetrators in Bangladeshi capital was killed in a gunfight with law enforcers in Dhaka, police said on Friday.

The gunfight, which also left three police officers wounded, erupted on at about 8 pm at Rupnagar neighbourhood of the city after the lawmen raided a militant hideout at road number 30, officer Sanwar Hossain said.

The militants fired their guns from inside a home as soon as the police encircled the hideout, said witnesses.

“We heard at least sound of 20 gunshots in the evening,” a witness said.

The officer said the man killed was identified as Murad alias Major Murad, who trained the militants carried out attack on Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1. He was also the trainers of Sholakia eid congregation attack.

Twenty civilians, 17 of whom were foreign nationals, were killed in the cafe attack before the army commandos stormed the restaurant and gunned down six suspected attackers.

Two police officers were also killed during the operation.

Earlier on August 27, the security forces killed three suspected militants, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury who was identified as one of the mastermind of the attack, in Narayanganj town, 20 kilometers east of Dhaka.

Chowdhury, a leader of the banned Islamist group Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh, was trained in Syria and had planned almost all recent attacks in Bangladesh, according to police chief Shahidul Hoque.

Murad, a member of the Neo JMB ( Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh)  was a close aide to Chowdhury, said Monirul Islam, head of counter terrorism unit of Bangladesh police.

He said the policemen sustained injuries were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Square Hospital.

On July 26, nine militants were killed during a police raid in the Kalyanpur neighbourhood of Dhaka.

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