Authorities in Bangladesh say troops have killed at least 11 suspected "extremists" in three separate raids targeting the militant Islamist group that is accused of killing dozens of people during a hostage siege at a Dhaka cafe in July.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the dead included the emerging leader of the banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), whose former leader -- a Canadian of Bangladeshi origin named Tamim Chowdhury -- was killed in a firefight with police last month.
The October 8 raids on the JMB suspects were carried out in Gazipur, just outside the capital and in the central Bangladeshi region of Tangail.
The militant group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack on a cafe in a swank part of Dhaka -- which killed 18 foreign hostages and at least six locals -- but Bangladeshi officials insist the JMB was responsible.
