Bangladeshi authorities say a member of a banned Islamic militant group and his family have died in a bomb blast during a police siege.
The authorities say the member of Jamayetul Mujahedin, his wife and two children died in the explosion on Monday after police surrounded the house in the eastern town of Comilla. It was not immediately clear if the blast was an act of suicide.
Security forces surrounded the house in their hunt for Islamic militants linked to a wave of bombings in Bangladesh.
Police say they found at least six other bombs in the house and they detained two suspected militants. One of them is believed to be the son of Jamayetul Mujahedin's top leader, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, who was taken into custody last month.
Authorities have intensified a crackdown on the outlawed group blamed for at least 28 deaths in more than 400 bomb blasts across the country last year.
Jamayetul Mujahedin wants Muslim-dominated but secular Bangladesh to impose strict Islamic law. More on this from our stringer in Dhaka , Amir Khasru ..........
