Dhaka cafe siege: Head of group accused of planning attack dead, Bangladeshi authorities say

Bangladeshi security officials have said on Friday (21 October) that the head of the Islamist group, who was accused of carrying out the attack at an upmarket cafe in Dhaka, has died.

According to an AFP report, the accused, Abdur Rahman, died on 8 October in hospital after he tried to jump from the fifth floor of a building in the outskirts of the capital when it was raided by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite security unit.

In a statement, the security unit said that Rahman's identity was confirmed by his family and through his possessions. It added that he was the new leader of the Islamist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The statement further said many emails, letters and documents that were recovered by the RAB "all proved that Abdur Rahman was the emir (head) of the new JMB".

Bangladeshi officials have insisted that the group was behind the siege at an upmarket cafe in Dhaka on 1 July in which at least 20 people were killed.

The assault on the cafe in July was the deadliest and raised alarm about the growth of the Islamic extremism in the country.

Around 40 JMB members have been killed in a clampdown against the group since the attack in July and a number of raids have been conducted at addresses connected to the terror outfit. The group, which was reportedly inactive following the executions of their senior leaders in March 2007, is said to have regrouped with educated and young militants taking the reins.