DHAKA, 23 August 2005 — Police have intensified the hunt for the main suspect in the serial blasts on Wednesday. All police machineries are working in close coordination with each other to track down Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the suspected mastermind of the blasts which rocked Bangladesh, sources said.

“Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his Jamatul Mujahedeen are our prime suspect for the Aug. 17 attack,” Inspector-General of Police Abdul Kaiyum said.

“We stepped up our efforts across the country to find him. We are also looking for others who were involved in the bombings,” the national police chief added.

Police, working with the elite Rapid Action Battalion crime fighting force, said Rahman is head of an extremist group that set off a chain of 434 small bombs in all but one of the country’s cities and towns.

The attacks killed two people and injured more than 100. Leaflets bearing Jamatul Mujahedeen’s name and calling for the introduction of Islamic law were found at blast sites.

Police have arrested more than 130 people and many of them said they were members of Jamatul Mujahedeen and that Rahman was their leader, a security source said.

The suspects were being interrogated by the country’s five intelligence agencies in Dhaka.

Local newspapers said a US explosives expert, James Dalton Telfer, arrived in Dhaka Sunday to assist intelligence agencies in the investigation.

A spokesman at the US Embassy said he was not aware of the expert’s arrival. “We are certainly open to any request from the government,” he added.

Police are also looking for Siddiqul Islam, alias Bangla Bhai, the alleged leader of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, which police suspect is a sister organization of Jamatul Mujahedeen.

Both groups were banned in February after being linked to a wave of bombings at charities, shrines and music events.

“We are now pretty sure Abdur Rahman was the mastermind of the attack and everything will unravel if we can nab him,” the security source said.

“We’ve raided his village house and his other residences in (northern) Jamalpur town. But little is known about him and his Jamatul Mujahedeen,” he said.

The security source said Rahman had fought in Afghanistan and came back home to take over the madrasas following the death of his father. “He is about 50 and fluent in English,” he added.

India’s eastern state of West Bengal tightened security on its border with Bangladesh amid reports that Rahman and followers may try to cross into India.

Opposition Commemorate Grenade Attack in Dhaka

Thousands of opposition party members wearing black ribbons marched in Dhaka to commemorate last year’s grenade attacks on an opposition rally that killed 22 people and wounding more than 300 others, organizers and police said.

On Aug. 21, 2004, about a dozen grenades were lobbed into an opposition Awami League rally in front of its party headquarters, just after party leader Hasina Wajed had finished a speech. She narrowly escaped injury.

On Sunday, about 10,000 Awami League members wearing black ribbons and carrying black flags marched peacefully from Dhaka University to the party headquarters in downtown Dhaka, police official Mahira Khanam said.

They carried banners and placards reading, “Step down” and “We want peace, not bombs.