Dhaka Café Attack Update: Bangladeshi Islamist Group Chief Abdur Rahman Dead

Abdur Rahman, the chief of a Bangladeshi Islamist group who was accused of planning the fatal café attack in Dhaka, died after jumping from a building, officials said Friday. He died on Oct. 8 while attempting to evade arrest, the authorities said.

Rahman, the leader of Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), jumped from the fifth floor of the building located in the outskirts of Dhaka following a raid by the Rapid Action Battalion, the country’s elite security unit. According to the RAB, Rahman’s identity was later confirmed by his family through his possessions.

The security officials said they recovered documents, letters and emails related to Rahman, which “proved that Abdur Rahman was the emir (head) of the new JMB.”

Authorities in Bangladesh have maintained that the JMB masterminded the café attack at an upscale area in Dhaka on July 1 despite the Islamic State group claiming responsibility. The attack killed 20 people mostly foreigners.

Dhaka police had said that all the attackers were killed.

“A majority of the boys who attacked the restaurant came from very good educational institutions. Some went to sophisticated schools. Their families are relatively well-to-do people,” Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu reportedly said in July.

Most of the victims were from Italy, Japan, India and the United States. Five of the six attackers were on the government's militant watch list.