Bombs turned Atia Mahal into a death trap, says army after Operation Twilight

Militants have turned Sylhet's 'Atia Mahal' into a death trap by planting explosives, says the army.

Sylhet CorrespondentMonjur Ahmed, bdnews24.com
Published : 28 March 2017, 06:55 PM
Updated : 28 March 2017, 09:07 PM

'Operation Twilight', the anti-terror raid by para-commandos on the building complex at South Surma's Shibbari, was officially concluded on Tuesday evening.

The siege that started on early Friday when police encircled the two buildings came to an end on Monday with the death of four unidentified suspects.

Brig Gen Fakhrul Ahsan briefed reports on the four-day operation at Sylhet's Jalalabad Cantonment around 8pm Tuesday, just few hours after police got custody of Atia Mahal.

"The militants had placed a large explosive at the entrance to the building. They attached explosives to refrigerators and motorcycles and used them as barricades," said the army official.

"Explosives were placed all over the staircase, which put the building at substantial risk." 

The actual amount of explosives recovered from the building was yet to be estimated, he said. "But you (reporters) must have sensed how powerful those were."

"The building's collapsible gate got blown off in an explosion. The gate fell on another building. The building has become unstable."

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Brig Gen Ahsan had described the state in which commandos found one of the suspects.

"We found a body in a room and there were IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) scattered all around the body … parts of the building will fall apart if all the bombs inside exploded."

The militants were in suicide vests, he said. One of them exploded the vest after being shot by commandos.

He was asked how the militants managed to plant so many bombs while being surrounded by law enforcers.

"They were condoned off around 2:30am Friday. They had quite some time do this after that. They used that time to plant bombs. But we don’t know exactly when they did all this."

Bomb-disposal units have diffused explosives on second, third and fourth levels of the building, he said.

"They were everywhere. We can't say an exact figure. They are still there. We will conduct a detailed search."

This was the 1st Para-Commando Battalion's first anti-terror operation after Holey Artisan where five gunmen were shot dead by the commandos after the death of 20 hostages in a terror siege on Jul 1, 2016.

Trained militants

Though the identities of the militants remained unknown, they were well trained in using arms and ammunitions, said Brigadier General Fakrul Ahsan, citing the amount of ammunition the militants had possessed and booby-trapped set inside the building.

“As I said earlier, we believe the militants were well-trained. They had possessed an enormous amount of ammunitions. And they made the building vulnerable by using some of those ammunitions,” the Brigadier said.

“They converted a fridge to a large explosive which shows their training and capacity,” he added.

The army officer said that “such amount of explosives, no one can procure ready-made. They had to prepare it inside the house. They manufactured it at home.”

In reply to a question, whether they were trained abroad, Brigadier Ahsan said: “It’s difficult to say.”

According to Ustar Ali, the owner of the building, Kawsar Ali and Morjina Begum rented the house three months ago.

Rescuing the trapped residents

Brigadier Ahsan said that rescuing the residents trapped in the building was their priority.

There are 30 flats in the five-storey building, of which two were occupied by the militants. In 28 other units, residents became stranded and “rescuing them was our priority.”

“The first phase of the operation was risky. The commandos put their life at risk to rescue 78 people from those 28 flats – 30 males, 27 females and 21 children.”

Why was Army called in?

Bridagier Ahsan said the police had conducted some successful operations against the militants. The recent Sitakundu operation was a similar one, he added.

But, when the lives of such a large number of civilians were are a risk, the authorities decided to give para-commandos the responsibilities to conduct the operation.

“Given the scenario and assessment police had done, the authorities decided to use military expertise,” he added.

The similar situation occurred happened during Holey Artisan operation in July last year.

Regarding the amount of time the operation took, he said that the commandos had to work with utmost caution to rescue residents from 30 flats, so it took time.

He expressed his gratitude to everyone who helped to make the operation a success.