Dhaka: Police have arrested four suspected Islamic militants and seized bomb-making materials in a raid in the Bangladeshi capital, the national police chief said Wednesday.
The suspects were arrested late Monday from a four-story apartment building in Dhaka`s southern Dhania district where they were living as tenants, police chief Noor Mohammad said. A woman believed to be the wife of one of the men also was detained, he said.
Police seized explosives, bomb-making materials and firearms from the men, he said.
Police believe the men are top-ranking leaders of the banned, radical Islamic group Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Mohammad did not provide further details.
Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh seeks to establish Islamic law in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. It was blamed for countrywide bombings that killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens in 2005.
Six high-ranking members of the group, including its leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam, were hanged in 2007 for killing two judges in a separate 2005 bomb attack in the southern town of Jhalakathi. During their trial, the defendants said they targeted the courts because they are run by secular laws.
Bureau Report
