Dhaka raid: Detained militant claims IS link

A militant who was held during a special drive of the joint forces in Dhaka's Kalyanpur, killing nine militants, has confessed to be an operative of the Islamic State.

He told the doctors of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was taken for treatment, that he was an operative of the Islamic State, the Daily Star reported, quoting sources.

Identified as Hassan, hailing from Bogra he also claimed to be a student of Bogra's Government Shah Sultan College.

He received a bullet injury and his left leg was fractured during the stand-off, said assistant sub-inspector Sentu Chandra Das.

The detainee told doctors that he, along with 10 others, live on the fourth floor of the building from where he jumped off after sensing police presence.

He claimed that he was the militants' cook living in "Jahaj Building".

SWAT, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch of police (DB) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) jointly carried out a one-hour operation "Storm 26" from 5.51 am.

The occupants of the building and adjacent ones were evacuated overnight.

"We neutralised nine militants in the operation," Sheikh Maruf Hassan, DMP additional commissioner, told the media on completion of the operation.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque, who visited the scene, said the militants had similar black outfits as those of the Gulshan cafe attackers.

"The detained person claimed to be an IS members but we think they are of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)," he added.

On 1 July, gunmen killed 20 hostages, including foreign nationals, at an upscale eatery Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka.

The police believe the attacks on the Gulshan restaurant and Sholakia Eidgah were both carried out by JMB militants who were trying to wield the emblem of the Islamic State.

-ANI