5 of a family held in city for 'militant link'

A special team of Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) arrested five members of a family at Rupnagar in the capital’s Mirpur early Saturday for their suspected involvement in militant activities.

The arrestees are Ahmed Ali, 57, his wife Salma Ahmed, 50, their son Jakaria, 35, and Kibria, 30 and daughter Asma Ferdous Dipa, 25.

Tipped off, a special team of ATU conducted a drive in a house of the area around 1:30am, said Mahiduzzaman, superintendent of police (SP) at the ATU Headquarters (Media and PR).

He said police knocked on the main door of the house repeatedly but they did not open it. At one stage, they opened it and swooped on the police with a sharp weapon, leaving three cops injured, the SP added.

He said Jakaria was shot and injured as police fired gunshots in self-defence.

Jakaria was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital while the three injured cops to Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital, he added.

He further said alleged militant Ahmed Ali is a principal officer of Sonali Bank.

Some explosive substances, improvised devices and some books on extremism were recovered from the house, said SP Mahiduzzaman.