Bangladesh security forces raid 'militant den', encounter underway

Bangladesh's security forces on Wednesday raided a building in the country's northwest, where at least four militants are believed to be hiding, police said.

Gunshots were heard near the single-storey building in Chapainawabganj, witnesses said, indicating that an encounter between the suspected militants and the elite SWAT unit was underway.

"We are in an operation there... We have named it Eagle Hunt," a spokesman of police's counter terrorism unit told PTI in Dhaka.

He added that at least four people are believed to be hiding in the house.

The SWAT team was sent there from Dhaka earlier today.

They had asked the militants to surrender, Chapainawabganj police said.

"The operation began in the evening... Police fired blank shots to warn the militants, who responded at least with one gunshot," a police officer at the scene told a TV channel.

The area has been evacuated.