Investigators work on the site of a damaged hotel after a raid on the hideout of a suspected militant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 15, 2017. A suspected militant was killed in a suicide blast during a raid on a hotel in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Tuesday, the country's police chief told journalists. (Xinhua/Jibon Ahsan)
by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- A suspected militant was killed in a suicide blast during a raid on a hotel in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Tuesday, the country's police chief told journalists.
After the raid on the militant hideout ended on Tuesday morning at about 11 a.m. local time, AKM Shahidul Hoque, inspector general of Bangladesh Police, told journalists at the scene that "Militant Saiful Islam has blown himself up during the raid despite repeated requests to surrender."
The law enforcement agencies early on Tuesday cordoned off Hotel Olio International.
A portion of the hotel's fourth storey reportedly collapsed and fell onto the road after the explosion.
A pedestrian was injured in an explosion that rocked the area during the operation codenamed "August Bite."
The hotel is located a few blocks away from the memorial museum of Bangladesh's founding president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was assassinated on Aug. 15, 1975 along with 13 members of his family.
On Tuesday morning. Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led the nation in paying homage by placing wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu installed in front of the memorial museum in Western Dhaka's posh Dhanmondi area.
The incident came when mourning ceremonies were held at the memorial museum on Tuesday morning with presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Mujib, who survived at least 19 attempts on her life, the worst being on Aug. 21 in 2004 when grenades thrown by unidentified assailants tore through her Bangladesh Awami League party rally in Dhaka.
Hoque said militant Saiful Islam is a member of Neo-JMB (an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh) who was blamed for the deadly attack on the Spanish cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan on July 1, 2016.
The militant was previously a member of Chhatra Shibir (the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party), Haque added.
He said the suicide bomber was assigned to target the mourning processions toward memorial museum.
"Acting on a tip off we've come to know that he was planning to bomb the mourning day program taken out in the area."
Haque told the media on the scene that they had found huge improvised explosive devices or IEDs inside the hotel room which the militant rented Sunday.
He said their bomb disposal units were working to defuse the IEDs which if exploded could cause massive casualties.
