Bangladesh cracks down on Islamist group after blast
21 Feb 2009 14:26:18 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds call for national unity) By Nizam Ahmed DHAKA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Bangladesh police arrested four members of an underground Islamist group in a crackdown on Saturday, an officer said, a day after a suspected militant set off a grenade inside a police station wounding 10 people. Bangladesh's interior minister appealed for national unity to fight Islamist militancy following the attack. The suspected militant and three other members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were shown to journalists along with weapons captured from them on Friday. Four other members of the group were arrested near the scene of the attack. The JMB has been waging a violent campaign for the introduction of sharia law in Muslim-dominated Bangladesh. Police and journalists were among the wounded in the incident in Gazipur, 30 km (20 miles) north of the capital Dhaka. "We must forge a national unity to fight Islamist terrorists in the country," Sahara Khatun, home (interior) minister told a function. "Form local committees and cooperate with police by giving information about the movement of suspect people. Otherwise they (Islamists) won't spare anyone." Earlier on Saturday, police in a nationwide crackdown arrested 10 other militants and seized three grenades, explosives and books on militancy. Six more militants were arrested in Dinajpur, Jamalpur and Nilphamari towns in the north of the country. Police had tightened security across Bangladesh on reports that the group was planning attacks on Saturday. The day marks the killing of students by police more than half a century ago for demanding Bengali be made a state language in what was then East Pakistan. The JMB suffered a setback in 2007 when six top commanders were hanged, but police and intelligence officials say their followers have been regrouping ever since and plotting attacks. (Reporting by Nizam Ahmed)
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 ...
