Woman detonates explosives outside raided Dhaka building: Police

A woman accompanied by a child came out from the building raided by Dhaka police looking for Islamist radicals and blew herself up on Saturday.

Police said the explosives were tied to her body which went off as she came out of the three-story building in Dhaka's Ashkona area. 

This appears to the second such case of a woman trying to detonate explosives to avoid arrest by police.

In 2009, when RAB arrested most-wanted JMB explosives expert Boma Mizan from Dhaka's Mirpur, the militant's wife detonated a bomb in their house in an attempt to kill themselves.

But both survived.

Mizan was snacthed by his JMB comrades in a highway ambush in Mymensingh when he was being been taken to court from prison in 2014. According to Indian intelligence agencies, he perhaps fled to India.

On Saturday, a team from the counterterrorism unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) cordoned off the building at Ashkona in the capital's Dakhshin Khan early in the morning.

The entrance of the three-storey building at Dhaka's Ashkona, which police raided.

The unit's chief DIG Monirul Islam said that they started the raid when told there were at least six Neo-JMB activists hiding in the building.

Around 1pm, a woman along with a child came out of the building and she exploded her suicide vest, said officials. A teenage boy also exploded his suicide vest immediately thereafter and died.

"The woman, in a burka, came outside with a child and detonated the explosives tied to her body," senior counterterrorism officer Sanowar Hossain told the media at the scene.

Police had not allowed the media crew anywhere near the building, but the blast could be heard and smoke was seen billowing out.

Police have taken the child, who suffered splinter injuries, to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Intelligence officials said the woman was the wife of militant 'Suman' and the minor girl was the daughter of another militant 'Iqbal.'

bdnews24.com correspondents reported from the spot that the woman was seen lying on the parking space of the building. Later she was declared dead.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Hossain said police were not entering the premises as there is still another militant holed up on the building.

Earlier, four others had come out of the three-storey building and turned themselves over to the police.

They included slain Neo-JMB militant and former army officer Jahidul Islam's wife Jebunnahar. Police said a pistol and ammunitions were found with them.

Police taking away the four, who surrendered earlier.

A former Bangladesh Army major, Jahid, was gunned down on the night of Sep 2 during a raid at Dhaka's Mirpur. Police have been since looking for his wife.

After the four turned themselves over to police, officials said there were three more, including Tanvir's son inside the building, who later blew himself to avoid arrest.

Tanvir was the man who was found dead during the Sep 10 raid at the Azimpur house. Forensic experts said he had committed suicide.

His wife Adedatul Fatema alias Khadija and one the couple's twin sons were arrested from the house in Azimpur near the BGB Headquarters.

DMP chief Asaduzzaman Mia told journalists earlier in the day that the militants inside the building had a lot of explosives, which perhaps explains the reluctance of the police to attempt to rush the siege and storm the building.

Officials on the spot said then those inside were threatening to explode grenades.

"They have been repeatedly asked to surrender. But they are threatening to detonate grenades tied to their bodies," said Uttara Fire Service's Senior Station Officer Shafikul Islam.