1st Ld Writethru: Two militants killed in suicide blasts in Bangladesh raid

Two suspected militants, a female and boy, were killed in separate suicide blasts during a raid on a hideout of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) in capital Dhaka on Saturday.

After the raid on the militant hideout had ended on Saturday evening, Bangladeshi Home Minister Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists at the scene that "the woman and the teenage boy have blown themselves up on Saturday afternoon despite repeated requests to surrender."

He said a minor girl has also suffered splinter injuries when the woman killed herself.

Sounds of several explosions and gunshots were heard from the militant hideout since Saturday afternoon. Law enforcers reportedly lobbed several rounds of tear gas canisters targeting the building after the blasts.

Earlier in the day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told journalists that four people surrendered to the police along with a pistol and several bullets.

Law enforcers said there were total seven people inside the flat when the raid started early Saturday.

Mia said those who surrendered include Jebunnahar Shila who was earlier identified as the wife of slain Major (retd) Jahidul Islam, militant commander of Neo-JMB (an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh) blamed for July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter.

Shila had earlier managed to escape another drive in Dhaka couple months earlier.

He said the militants have been asked to surrender but they they are threatening to detonate grenades tied to their bodies.

A team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police cordoned off the building near Bangladesh's premier airport in capital Dhaka.

Shila's husband Bangladesh Army's sacked Major Jahid was killed in a raid in Rupganj on the outskirts of Dhaka on Sept. 2 months of after the deadly cafe attack.

JMB carried out a series of bombings in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital 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