Bangladeshi forces kill 11 suspected militants

Police have been carrying out raids on suspected militant hideouts since a deadly attack in July

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.