Rab identifies one as Mezba

One of the three suspected Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives killed during Friday's Rab raid in the capital's Nakhalpara has been identified as Mezba Uddin of Comilla, said Rab. 

His fingerprints matched with the Election Commission database and confirmed his identity, Lt Col Emranul Hasan, commanding officer-of Rab-3, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Mezba had been missing for the last two months, and his father filed a general diary in this connection, Nazrul Islam, inspector (investigation) of Monohorganj Police Station, told our Comilla correspondent.

Mezba had been living in Dhaka for at least 10 years. He used to visit his family in every two or three months in Bhaduara village in Monohorganj upazila, said locals.

A Rab team from Dhaka brought his family members from the village to Dhaka to identify the deceased whose body was kept at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College after an autopsy, said Kamal Hossain, chairman of Hasnabad Union Parishad.

Mezba, introducing himself as Jahid, rented a room of a flat on the fourth floor of six-storey “Ruby Villa” in Nakhalpara, several hundred yards from the Prime Minister's Office. 

Mezba and his two accomplices were shot dead during an exchange of fire with Rapid Action Battalion men. Mezba alias Jahid started staying in the flat on January 4 and his two accomplices joined him four days later.

The identities of the two others are yet to be known.

According to Rab, the three "militants" holing up in the flat were planning to carry out attacks on key establishments in the capital.

After the raid on Friday, Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed said the "militants" tried to blow up the flat by exploding a grenade on a gas burner.

A case was filed against the three and some unknown people with Tejgaon Police Station on Saturday night under the anti-terrorism act.