Dhaka 9 Oct (ANA) - Eleven suspected militants have been killed in a series of gun battles with Bangladeshi security forces, officials say. Three locations were raided by counter-terrorism police following a tip off. Two of the raids took place near the capital, Dhaka, and a third in the Tangail district some 100km away. The dead are all thought to be members of the banned Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. Bangladesh's minister for home affairs said the group's leader in Dhaka was among those killed. Police have carried out a number of raids on suspected militant hideouts since a deadly attack in July, when dozens of hostages were killed in a siege at a popular cafe in the capital.

Twenty hostages, two policemen and six suspects died during a 12-hour siege at the Holey Artisan cafe. The so-called Islamic State (IS) group said it carried out the attack, but Bangladesh believes that home-grown Islamists were responsible.(ANA)

FA/ANA/9 October 2016-----