DHAKA, 7 March 2006 — One of the most wanted militants of Bangladesh and second in command of the outlawed Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai was arrested in northern Mymensingh district by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) commandos after a 30-minute gunbattle yesterday.
Bangla Bhai was arrested in a remote village near the northern town of Muktagacha, RAB commander Mashuk Hassan said.
Last Thursday, JMB leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman surrendered to police after a 33-hour siege at a house in the northeastern city of Sylhet.
“There was a gunbattle. He shot at us and one of our sergeants was hit in the head and seriously injured,” said Hassan. “During the raid, Bangla Bhai detonated an explosive and he was slightly injured.” Television stations showed pictures of a handcuffed and wounded Bhai next to the smoldering ruins of the tin house in which he had been hiding. Officials say Bhai is also the head of a sister outfit Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB).
Col. Gulzar Hossain, RAB intelligence chief, who led yesterday’s operation, said 50 officers acting on a tip-off first raided a house in the nearby northern city of Mymensingh and arrested Bhai’s wife.
After Bhai was flushed out of his village hide-out, television footage showed him being treated at hospital in Mymensingh for splinter wounds along with another suspect who was also injured in the explosion.
“We stormed inside the house and I asked Bangla Bhai to surrender. He was injured and had no option but to give in,” Hossain said.
