Dhaka: The prolonged operations conducted by law enforcers at Comilla’s Bagmara militant den and Moulvibazar’s Borohat came to an end on Saturday, recovering the bodies of three suspected militants.

Three ‘militants’, including one woman, were found dead at Borohat militant den after the end of operation ‘Maximus’ in Moulvibazar’s municipality area, while the bomb disposal unit defused bombs, grenades and suicide vests at South Bagmara ‘militant den’ in South Comilla upazila in Comilla before concluding their operation codenamed ‘Strike Out’.

In the early hours of Wednesday, police cordoned off the two suspected militant dens in Moulvibazar-–one at Nasirpur den in Moulvibazar Sadar upazila and another at Borohat within a 2-km radius of Nasirpur. Barely 14 hours later, police encircled another ‘militant hideout’ in Comilla at about 4:30pm on Wednesday, but delayed the raid due to Thursday's elections to Comilla City Corporation.

The drives at Nasirpur militant den ended on Thursday and seven mutilated bodies were found in the hideout. Police suspected that all of them were killed in suicide blasts on Wednesday.

In Moulvibazar, a team of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) resumed their operation in the morning.

Chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Monirul Islam briefed the media three hours later saying they concluded the drive.

He said a SWAT team recovered the three bodies from the militant hideout after they resumed their operation.

Monirul said one of the dead militants was directly involved in two bomb blasts near militant hideout at Shibbari, Sylhet while joint forces conducted operation ‘Twilight’ last week.

He said the bombs thrown by the militant killed Lt Col Abul Kalam Azad, the chief of the intelligence wing of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), two policemen and four other people. Later, he took shelter in the military den at Borohat.

Based on intelligence information, the law enforcers kept the den cordoned off since Wednesday, said the CTTC chief.

He added that the female militant threw two grenades from the roof of the building on Friday. One of the grenades went off while another remained unexploded.

“The law enforcers also asked the militants to surrender several times. But, they did not respond. After concluding the operation, the SWAT team entered the building and found the bodies lying on the floor,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, the SWAT members started the operation at about 9:53am at the suspected militant den and suspended it after 7:00pm.

In Comilla, the bomb disposal unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) resumed their operation at about 9:15am on Saturday and defused 11 explosives, including three bombs weighing each 10 kg, six grenades and two suicide vests, at about 2:30pm.

Earlier on Friday, the bombs, grenades and suicide vests were found at the hideout during operation ‘Strike Out’ launched by the SWAT team. 

However, no militant was found inside the suspected militant den in the three-storey building.

Additional deputy inspector general of police (Chittagong Range) Sakhawat Hossain at a press conference in the afternoon said they had information that two militants -- Anas and Rony --had been staying in a room of the building.

However, he said, the two militants had run away a few hours before police cordoned off it.

The DIG announced that their operation ‘Strike Out’ is over and the section 144 clamped in the area has been withdrawn.