US State Dept yet to confirm if Shazad a US citizen
The US Department of State is yet to confirm if Shazad Rouf Arko, one of the nine militants killed in Tuesday's Kalyanpur operation, was a US citizen.
Police earlier said Shazad, an MBA student of North South University (NSU), had US citizenship though this newspaper could not verify it independently.
At the daily press briefing in Washington DC on Thursday, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, “I have seen reports that a US citizen was killed in a police raid in Dhaka.”
“We understand that there's an ongoing law enforcement investigation on the matter, and so I'd refer you to local authorities for more detail on that,” he told a questioner.
“I can only confirm that we've seen reports that a US citizen was killed in a police raid in Dhaka,” the spokesperson told the questioner when insisted repeatedly for confirmation of Shazad's US citizenship.
The journalist then asked, “Aren't you trying to find out?”
In reply, Kirby said, “And out of respect for the privacy of those affected ... we're going to decline further comment.”
Earlier on July 1, an American citizen of Bangladeshi origin was brutally killed along with 22 others in a militants attack at a Gulshan cafe.
BLOCK RAIDS INTENSIFIED
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) intensified the block raids it began during Ramadan in the wake of the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan.
“The block raids will continue in randomly selected parts of the capital,” Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman of DMP told The Daily Star.
Officials of different police stations, however, said the raids are being conducted mostly at bachelor and student messes.
Police raided 11 buildings at East Rajabazar, Panthapath and on Indira Road from 10:30pm on Thursday to early hours of Friday.
GG Biswas, officer-in-charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, told The Daily Star that the raids mainly targeted flats housing students.
He added that nobody was detained in the drives.
Earlier, Jamaluddin Mir, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station, said 60 members of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) conducted block raids in Mohammadpur's Nabadoy and Turag housing areas from 11:00pm on Wednesday to 4:00am on Thursday.
He said they searched 30 to 35 buildings.
The official added that cops also checked whether apartment owners provided police with information on their tenants.
Meanwhile, investigators have been questioning detained militant suspect Rakibul Hasan, who is under treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Masudur Rahman of DMP.
There is a splinter in Hasan's right leg and it will need a surgery, said DMCH Deputy Director Khwaja Abdul Gafur.
Early Tuesday, police stumbled across a militant den during a block raid in Kalyanpur. Before striking the hideout, police captured Rakibul around 1:30am.
Following information gleaned from Rakibul, police launched the operation “Storm 26” around 5:50am. Nine militants at the den were killed in ensuing gunfight.
Inspector of Mirpur Police Station Sajjad Hossain said a case filed in this connection was transferred to Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of the DMP.
Investigators have been examining evidence found at Holey Artisan Bakery and the Kalyanpur den, said Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman of DMP.
He added they are trying to find whether the militants exchanged information using mobile devices.
Meanwhile, Rahela Begum, mother of Raihan Kabir, who was among the nine militants killed at Kalyanpur, told journalists that she would request the authorities to hand her over his son's body.
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