DHAKA, 20 October 2005 — A trial court judge in Bangladesh was injured in a bomb attack by a suspected militant, sources said yesterday.
The attack on Tuesday came a day after police charged two top militant leaders for masterminding serial bombings in the country over past two months.
District Judge Biplab Goshwamy was hurt when the homemade bomb exploded as he just got out of a car in front of his house in the city if Sylhet, 300 km from Dhaka.
Police said people chased and caught the bomber and recovered a live bomb from him. “We suspect him to be a militant of Jamatul Mujahedeen,” Police Superintendent Sardar Rafiqul Islam told reporters.
Six people, including an assistant imam of a mosque where the bomber used to teach children religion, were detained for questioning.
Acting on information from the detained bomber, police yesterday raided a living quarter at the mosque compound and recovered some explosives, detonators, batteries and bomb-making materials.
“Some publications of Jamatul Mujahedeen were also seized from the quarter,” Police Inspector Mahbubur Rahman said.
On Monday, police charged two fugitive Islamic leaders — Jamatul Mujahedeen’s supreme leader Sheikh Abdur Rahman and Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai, head of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh — for the countrywide serial bombings on Aug. 17.
After a recent spate of bombings raised concerns for the safety of the leaders attending the next month’s South Asian summit, officials said yesterday that up to 30,000 security forces will be deployed during the summit. The Nov. 12-13 summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, will bring together leaders of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives to discuss economic cooperation.
“We have taken all possible measures to ensure highest security for leaders and officials who will attend the summit,” junior Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar told reporters after a high-level meeting to review security arrangements for the meeting.
Babar did not provide further details.
But a Home Ministry official said authorities are keeping watch on “those who are suspected to have been involved in the recent bombings.” The official can’t be identified as he is not authorized to make public statements.
He said Dhaka, the site of the summit, will be covered by a security blanket including some 30,000 police and security forces.
