A militant who is believed to have played a key role in carrying out the Dhaka cafe attack in Bangladesh that claimed the lives of 22 people including an Indian, killed himself during a raid, police said on Sunday. 

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Shamsed Hossain slit his throat on his own using a sharp weapon, a doctor at the forensic medicine department of state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital told reporters after an autopsy. Police had said earlier that Hossain was killed in an encounter. Three women terrorists and five policemen were also injured in the gunfight. Police's counter terrorism and transnational crimes (CTTC) unit team carried out the raids at Azimpur area here late on Saturday. 

Police is yet to officially make any statement about the background of the militants belonging to a faction of the banned Islamist militant outfit, Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).JMB is known for its ideological inclination to ISIS. Police suspects one of the arrested women to be the wife of a slain ex-army major and militant leader Jahidul Islam who was killed in an anti-militancy clampdown in suburban Narayanganj on August 27.

"The operation (raid) was carried out on a tip-off that Jahid's family were hiding in Azimpur. One of the injured women may be Jahid's wife," Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said. Another officer who is familiar with the raid, said one of the children rescued from the scene could also be the offspring of the renegade ex-military officer and "we are contacting related people for confirmation".

Police earlier said the ex-major was recruited in JMB by its key-organiser Bangladeshi-Canadian Tamim Chowdhury, who was killed during the raid Narayanganj last month. At least 28 Islamist extremists have been shot dead by Bangladesh security forces since the July 1 Dhaka cafe assault in which mostly foreigners, including an Indian, were killed.