DHAKA, 11 September 2005 — Security has been further tightened in Bangladesh after seizure of a huge cache of arms and ammunition from members of a banned organization, sources said. The law enforcers have been asked to keep watch on all mosques in Dhaka and other major cities and towns fearing fresh attacks.
“We’re prepared for any kind of situation as there remains the possibility of further blasts,” Inspector General of Police Abdul Kaiyum said. He said security had been tightened across the country.
Police have been keeping a tight watch on key government buildings and installations and stopping suspicious vehicles since hundreds of blasts last month killed three people and injured more than 100.
Police said they found enough explosives and detonators to make 470 bombs during a raid late Thursday on members of the outlawed Jamatul Mujahedeen group.
Authorities say they believe the group planted the 434 small bombs that exploded in nearly all the country’s main towns and cities August 17.
Leaflets found at the blast sites bore Jamatul Mujahedeen’s name and called for the introduction of Islamic law. In another raid on the house of Sheikh Ataur Rahman, a brother of Jamatul Mujahedeen leader Sheikh Abdur Rahman, police said they found 700 electrical parts used to make time bombs as well guns and bomb-making manuals.
“We have information Ataur Rahman, alias Sunny, was in charge of the Aug. 17 blasts in Dhaka,” a spokesman of the Rapid Action Batallion (RAB), Bangladesh’s elite crime-fighting force. Some 30 bombs exploded in the capital.
The RAB spokesman said yesterday a computer disk seized from Ataur Rahman’s house contained the leaflet found at the blast sites as well as a bomb-making formula.
Police also said they found a large number of books calling for a holy war and military training CDs.
Kaiyum said police had arrested around 250 people over the blasts including six Jamatul Mujahedeen members during Thursday’s raids. Another man was detained yesterday, police said.
Police are hunting for the Jamatul Mujahedeen leader and his brother as well as Siddiqul Islam, commonly known as Bangla Bhai, whose outlawed group Jagrata Muslim Janata is a sister organization of Jamatul Mujahedeen.
