The suspected mastermind of last month's deadly cafe attack that killed 22 was among those killed in a police raid in Narayanganj on the outskirts of capital Dhaka on Saturday morning, the country's police chief told Xinhua.

A K M Shahidul Hoque, inspector general of Bangladesh Police, told Xinhua that "three militants including Tamim Chowdhury were killed during the special operation of the joint forces."

He could not tell immediately identities of the two other militants.

Hoque said the operation "Hit Storg 27" of the joint forces also seized huge explosives and grenades.

Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian suspected of heading the local banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and a sacked army official were named earlier this month as the masterminds of the brutal attack on the cafe that left 20 hostages including 18 foreigners dead.

On Aug. 2, Hoque declared cash rewards of 2 million taka each for information leading to the arrest of Chowdhury and sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haq.

Operatives of the banned militant outfit reportedly plotted attack on the Spanish cafe in Dhaka's Gulshan to boast about their existence.

Hoque said the militants fired and lobbed hand-made grenades as policemen tried to storm the hideout Saturday morning.

In retaliation, police also fired at them, saying they left the militants including Chowdhury dead.

"We've asked them to surrender but they fired and lobbed hand-made grenades targeting policemen."

Since early Saturday, law enforcers cordoned off the building on receipt of information that JMB militants were hiding there.

Haque earlier said Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the Bangladeshi-origin Canadian citizen, and former army major Zia Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque were behind the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in the elite Gulshan.

In the wake of the two major terror attacks that occurred here, including the July 1 siege staged by militants in advance of the attack, Bangladeshi law enforcers strengthened anti-militant drives.

Nine suspected militants were killed as Bangladesh law enforcers last month conducted a similar raid on a hideout of banned Islamist outfit JMB in capital Dhaka.

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombing attacks in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.

Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007.

Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack at a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka, that left 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers dead, had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers.

At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7.

Source : XINHUA