Dhaka cafe attack mastermind's close aide killed

A close aide of the mastermind of the brutal Dhaka cafe attack has been killed in a "shootout" with the police in Bogra district, 197 km northwest of Dhaka.

The district's senior police official Sonaton Chakraborty told journalists that 32-year-old Abu Musa, involved in the killings of two minority community people in 2016, was killed in a "gunfight" early on Tuesday, bdnews24.com reported.

The "shootout" took place around 2:30 a.m. at Patnoja of Kahalu Upazila when a group of militants opened fire at a police patrol. As the police fired back, the militants fled leaving behind an injured 32-year-old Musa, officials said.

He was later declared dead by doctors at Shahid Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, said a police official. Musa operated under pseudonyms like Abuzar alias Abu Talha, "Robin", and "Samiul".

The police said Musa was a close aide of Jahangir Alam alias "Rajib Gandhi", who operated in Pabna, Natore and Sirajganj districts and was one of the main coordinator of the Gulshan cafe attack.

Alam, a leader of Neo-JMB, was arrested by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on January 14.

Neo-JMB is an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

--IANS

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