Bombs found on man killed at Khilgaon check post

An unidentified motorcycle rider, who was shot dead by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members after failing to heed a check post in Dhaka’s Khilgaon, was later found to be carrying two bombs, RAB claimed. The incident took place in Shekher Jayga, a sparsely populated area east of Shabujbagh, around 4:30am on Saturday. This was only 16 hours after a suicide bomber sneaked into a RAB barracks in Uttara and blew himself up, injuring two personnel. The elite force claimed the man who drove past the check post was in possession of two hand made bombs, one on his belt and the other in a bag. RAB-3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Tuhin Mohammad Masud said they were compelled to shoot the man, who, despite repeated orders, did not stop. “The man crossed the check post and went forward for about 15 yards defying the RAB personnel’s instruction,” he told the press. At this point the man was shot.

It seems that three bullets hit the person’s chest and exited through his back, while another bullet hit the front side of his right leg and also exited the body

The autopsy report, published in the afternoon, said the rider was shot four times in the chest. He was wearing jeans and a shirt. Some RAB-3 officials told the press the rider tried to throw a bomb but failed. Two RAB-3 men were also reportedly injured, but no details have been revealed about them. There are no buildings within 200-300 yards of the check post, except an under construction building and a tin-shed warehouse. The spot in Shekher Jaiga, a link road to Demra, is around 6km away from Rampura Bridge. RAB-3 CO Tuhin Masud, at the spot at around 10:15am, told journalists: “The motorcycle rider tried to intrude through the RAB-3 check post in Shekher Jayga. We were forced to shoot him as he did not stop even after repeated signals. “Two hand bombs have been recovered from him. The bomb disposal unit defused the bombs. We are not sure if he had any link to on saturday’s suicide attacker.” In the morning, Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of RAB legal and media wing said in an SMS that two RAB members were injured in the incident. But the injured personnel’s names have not been revealed. The RAB-3 CO has been unavailable on the phone since last evening. The man was riding an Apache brand motorcycle that had no number plate. One handmade Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was recovered from the bag and another bomb was tied to a vest on his body, the Rab-3 CO said. Later around 12:30pm, law enforcers defused the recovered bombs at a nearby field. A local RMG worker, Shimul, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We heard nothing as my home is quite far from the spot. People are usually sleeping at the time when the incident reportedly took place.” The autopsy of the alleged bomb carrier was done by Dr Sohel Mahmud, head of the Forensic department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. “In primary assessment, it seems that three bullets hit the person’s chest and exited through his back, while another bullet hit the front side of his right leg and also exited the body,” he said. “We collected hair, blood and other samples to find out his identity and whether he took any drugs,” he added. The two consecutive attacks on RAB took place a day after four militants of New JMB group blew themselves up to evade arrest by the law enforcement agencies during a raid in Chittagong’s Sitakunda. On Wednesday, four militants, including a woman, were killed in a raid at a den in Chittagong’s Sitakunda. Later, police found the body of a child with the woman. In a separate raid, two militants were captured from another hideout in neighbouring Namarbazar in Sitakunda on last Tuesday. l