Militant killed in Bangladesh shootout

Dhaka: A Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) militant was killed on Thursday in a shootout with the police, authorities said.

Amijul Islam alias Al Amin had stabbed two police officers when he was captured in a police raid on February 28 from a village in the district, according to Jahangir Alam, a police officer.

He was in police custody since then and died early on Thursday during an exchange of fire between the police and militants who were trying to free him, Alam told Efe news.

The Bangladeshi government blames the JMB and another extremist organisation Ansarullah Bangla Team, for terrorist attacks in the country, some of which have been claimed by the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in South Asia.

More than 70 people -- mainly bloggers, intellectuals, foreigners and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh -- were killed in a series of attacks between 2013 and 2016, triggering alarm in a Muslim majority country that has historically been moderate.

The most gruesome incident was the attack on a restaurant in Dhaka last June in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed.