DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh police on Thursday said they shot and killed two members of a banned Islamist group blamed for a spate of recent attacks in the South Asian nation.
Police have stepped up a hunt for Islamist militants after a wave of violence that included several attacks on mosques, Christian priests and Hindu temples.
Two members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group were killed in an exchange of gunfire after police raided their hideout on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, after midnight, said Sanwar Hossain, a deputy commissioner of police in the detective branch.
"Our force had to fire back when the militants hurled a grenade and started shooting," he added.
The group is believed to be behind attacks such as the bombings of a Shi'ite shrine and the shooting of three foreigners, two of whom died.
Militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, including the killing of a Christian convert last week.
The government has consistently denied that Islamic State has a presence in Bangladesh, instead blaming Islamist political opponents for instigating violence in the mainly Muslim, but secular, nation of 160 million people.