Head of militant group behind Dhaka attack dead: Police

The chief of a radical Islamist group accused of carrying out Bangladesh's deadliest terror attack on a popular cafe here in July died during a police raid, the country's elite security force announced on Friday, in a major blow to the ISIS-linked outfit.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) confirmed the identity of dead militant Abdur Rahman as the chief of Neo-JMB, a new faction of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

"Our investigations confirmed that (slain) is the chief of Neo-JMB," RAB's director general Benazir Ahmed told a media briefing.

Rahman died on October 8 after falling from a five storey building in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital while attempting to evade arrest during a police raid, BD News reported.

Rahman's identity was confirmed by his family who were shown pictures of his body, the statement added.

Rahman had used the alias Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif while forming Neo-JMB.

RAB officials said Rahman took over as the Neo-JMB's 'ameer' in July last year.

They said the Neo-JMB has been reduced to just 21 operatives after security forces launched a massive crackdown against the group after the July attack.

New JMB is said to be ideologically linked to the ISIS which had claimed responsibility of the attack on Dhaka's Holey Artisan restaurant on July 1 in which nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American, an Indian and five Bangladeshis, including two police officers, were killed.