Bangladesh 'militant family' killed in police raid

Police said all five suspects came from the same family

Police in Bangladesh say five suspected Islamist militants from the same family have been killed during an anti-terror operation.

According to police, the five blew themselves up before their hideout was stormed in western Rajshahi district.

Police say two of the dead were women. A fire fighter was also killed and three policemen injured.

Police believe the militants belonged to an offshoot of the banned Jamiatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The group has been blamed for a series of attacks on minority groups and secular writers and bloggers.

Another woman and two children were rescued from the alleged hideout in Rajshahi.

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The raid is one of a number in recent weeks and comes at a time when many in Bangladesh thought security forces had managed to curb Islamist militancy, following the deadly siege on a cafe in Dhaka last year.

Bangladeshi police maintain that an offshoot of the JMB, called the neo-JMB, has carried out many recent attacks, despite claims to the contrary by so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda.