Security unit kills two militants in raid on hideout

A Bangladesh anti-terrorist force killed two members of a banned Islamist group on Monday, a force spokesman said, the latest clash in a intensified a hunt for militants behind a spate of violence.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh faces a growing threat of militant violence with a string of incidents this year including the killing of several liberal activists and attacks on minority Shi'ite Muslims, Christian priest and Hindu temples.

Members of the anti-terrorist unit raided an abandoned house on the outskirts of Dhaka in the early hours and killed two members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen militant group hiding there after they threw bombs, the force spokesman said.

"Our personnel had to retaliate by firing," spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters.

A large amount of bomb-making material was found along with a pistol and some bullets, he said.

The militant group is believed to be behind a series of recent attacks, including bombings of a Shi'ite shrine and the shooting of three foreigners, two of whom have died.