‘Hefajat planned to loot bank, attack secretariat’
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Benazir Ahmed on Wednesday said that none was killed during the early Monday operation that flushed out Hefajat-e-Islam men from Shapla Sqaure in the capital.
At a briefing at the DMP Media Centre, he said that no lethal weapons were used in the operation titled ‘Operation Secured Shapla Chattar.’The commissioner alleged that some vested quarters were spreading rumours that 2,000-3,000 people were killed, but, in fact, 11 people including a cop died during the day-long violence of Hefazat activists on Sunday.
Hefajat activists fought running battles with the police across downtown Dhaka on Sunday, when they were allowed to hold
a rally at Shapla Square following their Dhaka siege programme.
In a late night drive on early Monday, law enforcers flushed out Hefazat men from their position at Shapla Sqaure.
Hefajat claimed that over 2,000 of their activists were killed in the operation. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami backed the claim.
The total number of deaths during the operation is unknown, although both international and national media reports reported that at least 22 died in the incidents.
The police commissioner said that had there been such casualties, the families of the victims would have claimed the bodies.
Some quarters are spreading rumours through manipulated photos, although two television channels broadcasted the operation live, he said.
The commissioner said they had intelligence report that Hefazat had planned to loot Bangladesh Bank and attack the secretariat.
‘Non-lethal weapons including water cannon, flash bank grenade known as sound grenade, multi-impact grenade known as gas grenade and smoke grenade were used in the operation,’ he said.
Benazir claimed that a total of 11 people were killed in the day-long violence and the law enforcers recovered four bodies wrapped with shrouds from Hefajat’s podium.
‘Three bodies were recovered from nearby places during the operation. A policeman and three pedestrians were killed during the violence of Hefazat activists,’ he said.
The commissioner said that teenage students from madrassahs across the country were brought to Dhaka misusing their religious sentiment.
DMP additional commissioner Abdul Jalil, Border Guard Dhaka sector commander colonel Ehia Azam Khan and RAB intelligence wing director lieutenant colonel Ziaul Ahsan, among others, were present at the briefing.
Courtesy of New Age
