Relatives decline to accept militants' bodies in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Relatives of a family of seven people, who committed suicide by blowing themselves up when security personnel stormed their hideout in northeastern Bangladesh, have declined to take their bodies for burial, saying they do not want to be part of a "stigma".

The seven, including five children, were identified from family photographs found inside the hideout the police raided last week.

"They have expressed their unwillingness to accept the bodies saying they don't want to be part of the stigma caused by their (slain) kin," northeastern Moulvibazar's police chief Mohammad Shahjalal told reporters.

He said in-laws of Lokman Hossain identified them from a family photograph as the bodies were beyond recognition after the powerful suicide blast.

Shahjalal said Hossain's father-in-law Abu Bakar came to Moulvibazar in northwestern Dinajpur after being called for identification.

"But they declined to receive the bodies for subsequent rituals and burials fearing that could stigmatise the rest of the family," the officer said.

He said Bakar told police, his slain daughter Shirina Akhtar, had called him last after police's elite SWAT team raided the house where the militant couple lived with five daughters with youngest one being just seven-month-old.

Hossain, 45, and his wife, both operatives of Islamic State-inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB), blew themselves up along with their five daughters on March 29 night on the face of a raid on their hideout on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town.

Security officials had said the blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside.

"The forensic examinations could confirm the casualty figure but we assume they are seven or eight in number," police's counter terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam had said.

The police launched 'Operation Hit Back' to flush out militants from their hideouts after they failed to convince them to surrender.

"Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied. They launched counter attacks by throwing grenades and bombs whenever we tried to approach them," Islam said.

Earlier, relatives refused to accept bodies of four slain Islamists killed in police encounters in southeastern Chittagong last month.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack.