US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Bangladesh Monday for talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on tackling local extremists following a wave of deadly attacks. 
Kerry is also expected to meet with civic and opposition leaders during the one-day visit, his first to the nation reeling from an attack on a cafe that killed 22 people, mostly foreigners. 
Just hours before Kerry's arrival, Bangladesh police shot dead two suspected members of the local Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) extremist group blamed for last month's cafe siege. 
The suspected militants, including a regional JMB commander, were killed during a gun battle with security officers in the northern town of Sherpur town, a police spokesman said. 
The United States and Bangladesh have a "longstanding partnership" with "programmes in place for many, many years that deal with counter-terrorism and security partnership," a senior US State Department official said ahead of Kerry's arrival. 
Talks between the two countries have intensified in recent months, the official said, with the US engaging with Bangladesh police and the military charged with tackling extremists.

Source: QNA