DHAKA, 18 December 2005 — Police seized huge cache of explosives from members of an outlawed groups in Rajshahi district, 233 km northwest of Dhaka, sources said yesterday.
Two huge caches of bomb-making materials were seized and five suspected members of Jamatul Mujahedeen group that has been blamed for a series of deadly bombings this year were arrested, police said.
Bomb materials, including large quantities of a gel explosive and about 2,000 detonators, were seized late Friday after raids on two houses in Rajshahi, a police news release said.
Police arrested four suspected militants, including one believed to be a high-ranking leader of the Jamatul Mujahedeen, the release said. The detainees were being interrogated.
Another suspected militant was arrested yesterday in Satkhira, 177 km southwest of Dhaka, a separate police statement said, without elaborating.
Also yesterday, police acting on a tip-off seized another cache of bomb materials and at least 26 homemade bombs that had been apparently abandoned in a roadside bush in the northern district of Rangpur, police official Aminul Islam said. The area is 248 km north of Dhaka.
The find included at least 60 detonators, 50 boxes of gel explosive and 20 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, Islam said. Police also recovered more than two dozens of books on jihad, he said. No arrests were made, but police were hunting for suspects in connection with the discovery, he said.
Jamatul Mujahedeen wants to establish Shariah rule in the country of about 140 million people, which is governed by secular laws. Authorities have blamed the group for several blasts that have killed 22 people and wounded scores since the end of November.
