Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan is a retired Bangladesh Army colonel and former sector commander of Border Guard Bangladesh in Rajshahi.[1][2] He is the former additional director general (operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)[3] an elite multi-service unit of the Bangladesh Police, and oversaw crackdowns on Islamist militants.[4][5] He has been sanctioned by the United States for his activities in RAB.[6] He had previously commanded RAB-5, RAB-7, and RAB-11.[7]
Khan served as the commanding officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-7 based in Chittagong in 2012.[11]
Khan served as the commanding officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-5 in Rajshahi in 2013–2014.[12][13] He led raids against Islami Chhatra Shibir in 2013 and recovered weapons from their dorms.[14]
On 8 March 2015, Khan was appointed the commanding officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-11 based in Narayanganj.[15] He replaced Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad who was dismissed from service for his role in the seven murders of the Narayanganj, a case of extrajudicial killing in which Tareque would later be convicted.[15][16] He worked on improving the image of the force in Narayanganj which had been damaged by the seven extrajudicial killings.[17] He oversaw the investigation into the death of Tanwir Muhammad Taqi.[18]
Khan was appointed additional director general (operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion on 28 April 2016.[19] He was on deputation from the Bangladesh Army.[20] He replaced Ziaul Ahsan who had been promoted to brigadier general and made the director of the National Security Intelligence.[21][22] He briefed the media following a RAB operation on 22 March 2017 in Dhaka that resulted in the arrest of five members of the militant Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.[23] In November 2017, he led operations when three alleged militants were killed in a shootout with RAB ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Bangladesh.[24] In 2019, he was awarded the Bangladesh Police Medal.[25]
Khan left his post of additional director general (operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion on 17 September 2018 and was succeeded by Colonel Mohammad Jahangir Alam.[19]