Key "mastermind" behind attacks at Bangladesh Shia gathering killed in shootout

The militant suspected of being a key planning bombings on Bangladeshi Shias' Ashura mourning procession gatherings last month has been "killed in shootout," a senior police official claimed Thursday.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam of the Detective Branch of the Bangladesh Police told journalists at a press conference on Thursday that the alleged planner, Al Bani alias Hojja, of the attacks which killed two people and injured over 100 died during a raid in a Dhaka area late Wednesday night.

Deceased Hojja, a leader of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was arrested Wednesday along with his five cohorts who were actively involved with the bombings at the Shia gatherings.

The militants carried out the attacks on Oct. 24 on Bangladeshi Shias' Ashura mourning procession gatherings in the old Dhaka's Hussaini Dalan, a major venue for majlis or gatherings of Ashura or the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, which is observed in Bangladesh as well as in other Muslim countries to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, and his followers.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the explosions in an online statement, however, Bangladesh police has maintained it was the handiwork of "local extremists."

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bomb attacks in the country's 63 districts including the capital of Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.

Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007. Endit