Seven human skulls and charred body parts have been found inside a flat in Mirpur where a suspected terrorist had been living with his family.
Published : 06 Sep 2017, 04:04 PM
The discovery follows a string of large explosions allegedly set off by 'Abdullah', the terror suspect who the Rapid Action Battalion said was being restricted inside a six-storey building on Mazar Road for nearly two days.
One blast from Tuesday night has left a large hole, as deep as four square feet, on the floor of the fifth-storey flat through which fire spread to the lower floors, RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said at a news briefing on Wednesday.
The anti-terror raid saw 65 residents of the building moved to a nearby school on Tuesday morning.
"Human remains are scattered inside Abdullah's flat. We found seven skulls," he said. "Body parts are everywhere in the flat.”
"The number of skulls indicates the number of bodies in there. The militants killed themselves by causing this explosion."
The seven dead bodies are believed to be of Abdullah, his two wives 'Nasrin' and 'Fatema', his two young children 'Omar' and 'Osama', who were approximately between three to nine years of age. Two unidentified associates of Abdullah also died in the blast.
The bodies have burnt beyond recognition, said the RAB chief. Some only had bones.
DNA samples from their remains were sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for analysis, said RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan.
A cardboard box and petrol has been found in the flat which may contain bombs, he said.
The search will continue until Wednesday evening and resume on Thursday.
According to RAB, Abdullah, a "dangerous militant", had been involved in terrorism since 2005. A long-time resident of Mazar Road, he used to repair electronics equipment and sell pigeons.
Some hours before the blast, Abdullah told RAB over phone that he said he had 50 improvised explosives devices besides other flammable chemicals inside his flat.
“We were targeted with gunfire from that location after we cordoned off this place on Monday night. We believe he has a pistol too," Benazir had earlier said.
Throughout Tuesday, RAB officials negotiated with Abduallah and asked him to surrender. In the evening, the media was told that the suspect agreed to surrender between 7:30pm and 8pm.
Another two hours passed but the suspect did not exit the building.
Around 10pm, blasts from the building rocked the area. The explosions started a huge fire in the suspect's flat, lighting up the area. Bursts of gunfire could be also heard from the scene.
RAB said the suspects carried out three large explosions.
"The bombs were made of acid, petrol and various other chemicals. The blast shattered the glass windows which became like splinters. The splinters went 500 meters beyond our safety perimeter," the RAB chief said.
"The flat's rooms were still heated in the afternoon. Between 55 to 60 degrees Celsius. We tried to reduce the heat by applying water but too much of that would destroy evidence."
"Abdullah used to raise pigeons on his roof. Many of them died in the explosions. We are providing medical care to those still alive."
"We tried to save them, the two innocent children and the women. But he (Abdullah) was a militant, no child is safe from their murderous mentalities."
The flats on the fourth and fifth storey of the 24-flat building have been badly damaged. "Engineers will decide if they can ever be used again."