Published: 09:55 AM, 29 March 2017 Last Update: 01:40 PM, 29 March 2017
Sound of explosions and sporadic gunshots was heard from militant den in Moulvibazar from Tuesday morning police cordoned off two houses at Barahat Residential Area and Fatehpur village in Sadar upazila early Wednesday, suspecting those to be militant hideouts.
Tipped off, police cordoned off the houses around 4am, said officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station Wakil Ahmed.
Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said suspected militants at the house of Fatehpur village hurled grenades at the policemen. In retaliation, police also fired back several times, Masudur added.
The residents of Fatehpur said they heard the sounds of gunshots several times.
Locals said both the houses are owned by Saiful Islam, a Bangladeshi expatriate living in London.
Meanwhile, the local administration shut down all the educational institutions in and around the spots for ensuring the security of civilians, police said.
Members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit also joined the police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on the spots.
Earlier, 10 people, including four militants and two police officials, were killed and at least 40 people injured during the 83-hour long operation, 'Twilight', at Atia Mahal, said Army's Military Intelligence Director Brig Gen Fakhrul Ahsan.
Police launched the drive at the militant den in the early hours of Friday and later handed over the charge to army commandos on Saturday morning.
The army commandos then evacuated 78 members of 28 families trapped in the five-storey building.
After confirming the death of all the four militants, the bomb disposal units of Army entered the house and diffused all the explosives planted inside the building, bringing an end to the operation.
Besides, six people, including two police personnel, were killed and 40 injured in two bomb blasts near the militant hideout on Saturday evening.