Bangladeshi police kills 9 militants after a nightlong gun-battle

Nine suspected Islamic extremists were killed in a Dhaka neighbourhood after a gunbattle with the Bangladeshi police on Tuesday morning.

"Nine Islamist militants were killed after two hour-long gunfights" deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed told AFP, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in Kalyanpur neighbourhood.

The police said that the suspects threw a small hand bomb off an apartment building at the officers while they were conducting a "block raid" last night. Soon after which the heavily armed police sealed the neighbourhood and cordoned off the building.

According to NDTV, the Islamist gunmen exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the Greatest") .

"This morning police launched Operation Storm 26 and was able to destroy the militants. We're now sweeping the place," Dhaka additional police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan, who led the raid told AFP.

He further said that all of them belonged to an Islamist extremist group but did not reveal the name of the group."Their dress and their slogans before and after the attack all proved that they are members of (Islamist) militant force," Hasan said, adding that they were wearing black tunics and shouting "Allahu Akbar."