11 Slain Militants, 1 Financier: Two days gone, none officially identified yet

The identities of the 11 suspected militants and the “Neo JMB financier” could not be officially confirmed even two days after the raids that led to their deaths on Saturday. 

Initially, law enforcers found names of some of the dead through tenants' information submitted to police, national ID cards and a passport. But those were proved fake.  

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To know the identities of the seven killed in the police raid on a two-storey building in Gazipur's Patartek, Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Sunday night released their photographs on its Facebook page and website.

Through the posts, police urged whoever has any information about the seven to contact them.    

A family in Old Dhaka claimed that of those in the photos, the No. 3 could be Ibrahim, a 19-year-old student of a madrasa in Jatrabari.

Ahmed Abdullah, a member of the family and resident of Purana Mogholtuli, told this newspaper last night that the one with red shirt seemed to him as his brother Ibrahim.

“We can be sure if we see the body,” he added. 

Primarily, officials suspected one of the seven as Faridul Islam Akash, Dhaka region's operational commander of “Neo JMB”, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

But nobody has yet identified or claimed the body. Law enforcers say militants mostly use pseudonyms in organisational activities.     

Two other suspected militants were killed in another raid on a house in Gazipur's Lebu Bagan. This one was conducted by Rab.

Another Rab operation left two others dead in Tangail town.

Besides, the alleged “Neo JMB” financier died of his injuries after he jumped off the fourth floor of a building to evade arrest by Rab in Ashulia. 

In a seized passport, he was named Abdur Rahman from Kushkhali in Satkhira Sadar. Rab sent the passport number to the Department of Passport for verification.

When Satkhira police went to verify his identity, they didn't found anyone named Abdur Rahman in the address mentioned in the passport.

Law enforcers have detained his wife Shahnaj Akhter Rumi, 27. She is on a 10-day remand in two cases filed following the Ashulia raid.

Some neighbours of his in-laws' in Chandoria village of Pirganj in Takhurgaon identified him as Muktarul Islam after seeing his photo in the media.

Rumi left her house after HSC about eight years ago as her family put pressure on her for marriage, her mother Sopura Khatun told The Daily Star yesterday. 

She came to Dhaka and took a job at a garment factory and married a co-worker, according to her mother. 

Months after their marriage, the couple went to the village but her parents didn't accept them, said her younger sister Beli Akhter.

During this visit, Rumi introduced her husband as Muktarul from Bogra, neighbours said.

But family members could not confirm their daughter-in-law's name or address as they had long been out of contact with Rumi and her husband.

From the photo in the media, they only could say that the man was Rumi's husband.

About the two killed in Lebu Bagan, Rab officials yesterday told our Gazipur correspondent that they were yet to be sure about their identities though they initially found two names through tenants' information submitted to police by the houseowner.   

The two killed in Tangail were initially identified as Atiqur Rahman and Sagor Hossain -- respectively from Nimpara and Yousufpur villages at Charghat upazila in Rajshahi -- through two ID cards found on the spot.

But investigation found the information to be false, said Mohiuddin Faruque, commander of crime prevention company-3 of Rab-12, reports our Tangail correspondent. 

Our Rajshahi correspondent talked to the villagers and local representatives in the areas to verify the information. He too found it to be false.

The bodies of the duo were kept at the Tangail Medical College Hospital after autopsies.

Nine other bodies were sent to Kurmitola General Hospital. Earlier, police collected their DNA samples to scientifically confirm their identities.

Meanwhile, law enforcers yesterday arrested caretaker of the Patartek building Osman Gani and his wife Salma Begum. Osman is a brother of houseowner Solaiman, an expatriate in Saudi Arabia, reports our Gazipur correspondent.