Organizer of Dhaka cafe attack killed

Bangladesh security forces killed three Islamist militants on Saturday including a Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen alleged to have masterminded an attack on a cafe in Dhaka last month in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed, police said.

The militants were cornered in a hideout on the outskirts of the capital and, having refused to surrender, were killed in the ensuing gunbattle, Monirul Islam, the head of the Dhaka police counterterrorism unit, told media.

He initially said four militants had been killed but later revised the number to three.

The success notched up by the security forces came ahead of a visit on Monday by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is expected to discuss security in the wake of a series of killings of liberals and religious minorities in the mostly Muslim country.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault on the cafe in a posh neighborhood of the capital, during which militants singled out non-Muslims and foreigners, killing Italians, Japanese, an American and an Indian.