At least eleven suspected Islamist extremists were killed in three separate raids by security forces outside the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday, police said.

"Seven Islamist extremists were killed" in Gazipur district after counter-terrorism officers stormed a militant hideout, Gazipur police chief Harun-or-Rashid told AFP.

Earlier in the day four more suspected Islamist extremists were killed in two separate drives by the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan said.