Isis Bangladesh attack ‘mastermind’ identified as former student from Canada killed in police raid

The suspected mastermind of an Isis attack that killed more than 20 people at a café in Bangladesh has been shot dead by police.

Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian militant, died in a gun battle after security forces raided a building near Dhaka on Saturday.

AKM Shahidul Hoque, head of the national police, said he was killed alongside two unidentified men in Narayanganj. 

Bangladesh attack: Police admit shooting pizza chef dead after mistaking him for militant during Isis hostage crisis
Bangladesh attack: Isis militants 'tortured hostages who could not recite Quran' in 12-hour siege at Dhaka cafe
The suspects opened fire at police, who retaliated and shot the men dead after they failed to surrender.

Bangladeshi authorities previously named Chowdhury as the mastermind of café attack and a bombing and shooting massacre that targeted people gathering for Eid prayers six days later.

Police identified him as the head of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, an Islamist militant group, but Chowdhury has appeared in Isis propaganda as the leader of the terrorist group’s faction in the country.

The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Dhaka café attack following a series of machete attacks and assassinations, but the government has denied the group has a presence in the country and blamed the atrocity on local organisations.

Bangladeshi police inspect a house after a raid in Narayanganj, outskirts of Dhaka that killed three suspected militants on 27 August (AP)
Five militants armed with guns and knives stormed into the Holey Artisan Bakery and took diners hostage on 1 July, forcing them to recite parts of the Quran to be spared and killing anyone who could not.

Nine Italians, seven Japanese people including a pregnant woman, an Indian teenager, American student and several Bangladeshis were murdered in the 10-hour siege.

Police admitted mistakenly shooting the pizza chef dead as they stormed the building, initially saying six attackers had been killed but later revising the number to five.

Isis published photos of the gunmen through its propaganda agencies, showing them dressed in black with Arab-style headscarves, smiling with assault rifles in front of the group’s black flag.

The group has been prominently advertising its expansion into Bangladesh, featuring an interview believed to be with Chowdhury in the April edition of its English language magazine.