US yet to confirm slain suspected militant Shehzad’s citizenship!

The US State Department is still unable to confirm Shehzad Rouf Arka alias Morocco’s US citizenship, though his father told a Washington-based newspaper that he was born in Bangladesh and immigrated with his family in 1999.

Shehzad was one of the nine suspected militants killed when police busted a hideout in Dhaka's Kalyanpur last week following terror attacks in Bangladesh.

A US embassy official in Dhaka was with his father Tawhid Rouf when he went to the mortuary to identify his son.

State Department Spokesperson John Kirby, when asked, said: “I have seen reports that a US citizen was killed in a police raid in Dhaka.”

He cited privacy for not making further comments.

“We understand that there’s an ongoing law enforcement investigation in the matter, and so I’d refer you to local authorities for more details on that,” he said at the regular press briefing on Thursday in Washington.

When the journalist insisted on confirmation, he said: “I can only confirm that we’ve seen reports that a US citizen was killed in a police raid in Dhaka.”

“Aren’t you trying to find out?” asked the journalist, to which Kirby said: “And out of respect for the privacy of those affected...we’re going to decline further comment.”

Shehzad’s father told the Washington Post newspaper that they moved back to Bangladesh in 2009 so that his wife could be treated for cancer. She has since died.

The report said Shehzad’s father is an arms and military supply trader.

Earlier, a Bangladeshi-American was among the 22 persons killed by militants in the Gulshan cafe carnage on July 1.

The US authorities had reacted immediately reacted to that.

The US embassy in Dhaka had earlier also declined to disclose personal information about a citizen when bdnews24.com sought comments on Shehzad.