By Ruma Paul DHAKA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Bangladesh has launched a massive hunt for Islamist militants exploding or piling up bombs and grenades to boost their campaign to turn the country into a sharia state, Home Minister Shahara Khatun said. The government is also trying to find out the militants' sources of funding, she told parliament late on Sunday.The minister spoke two days after a detained activist of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh group exploded a live grenade during a news conference at a police station near Dhaka, wounding 10 policemen and journalists. Police said around 20 JMB militants including one of their leaders have since been arrested and the hunt continues. Intelligence officials have said the militants were grouping, particularly around the capital Dhaka, and planning more carnage to shake the stability of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. Hasina took office on Jan. 6 following a massive win in an election that saw Islamist parties and their allies routed. She vowed to fight all anti-democratic forces to the end and warned against possible attempts to destabilise the country. Political analysts and foreign friends of Bangladesh say stability and peace are important for the impoverished South Asian nation of more than 140 million people to sustain economic development programmes and attract investment. Home Minister Sahara told parliament the government had formed a special committee to investigate Friday's grenade attack. Home ministry officials said it was evident the JMB, and perhaps other Islamist groups, had changed their operational tactics by drafting a large number of women in suicide squads, taking advantage of the practise by some women of hiding their bodies and faces in line with a strict Islamic clothing code, called Hijab. Sahara said the government would also try to find out who mentored the Islamist militants and who provided them funds. "We are trying to confirm everything about them," the minister said. Security analyst Shahedul Anam Khan, a retired brigadier general, said: "The government must find out the sources of the money and the networks of the militant groups, particularly whether they have any foreign links." Police and elite force Rapid Action Battalion officials told reporters they had underestimated the JMB's strength, believing they lost much of their clout after six top commanders were hanged to death in March 2007. The JMB was blamed for a series of bomb attacks across the country in 2005, killing at least 30 people including lawyers, judges, policemen and officials. More than 150 people were injured. (Additional reporting by Masud Karim; Writing by Anis Ahmed; Editing by Jerry Norton) ((ruma.paul@thomsonreuters.com; +880-2-8330123; RM: ruma.paul.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Security personnel inspect jihadi books captured from the residence of an arrested member of an underground Islamist group in Gazipur February 21, 2009. Bangladesh police arrested four members of the underground ...
