DHAKA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Police in Bangladesh hunting for militants involved in last month's serial bombings, raided a suspected militant hideout and seized a large amount of explosives on Friday, police said. The raid is the latest in the country after about 500 small bombs exploded across Bangladesh on Aug. 17, killing two people and wounding about 100. Police believe Islamic militants carried out the blasts. "We have detained two people, seized four pistols and explosives that could be used to make hundreds of bombs like those exploded across the country on Aug. 17," a police officer said. Police believed militants used the hideout in the country's north as a bomb-making factory.The two suspects detained on Friday bring to 15 the number held over the past two days as part of a nationwide sweep for suspected militants.
No one has claimed responsibility for last month's almost simultaneous blasts, but copies of a leaflet found at most bomb sites carried a call by a banned Islamic militant group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim democracy.
Nearly 300 people have been detained over the past four weeks, and police say many of them have confessed to being members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and taking part in the recent blasts. The group's supreme leader Shayek Abdur Rahman remains at large, police said on Friday.
A day earlier, police seized four kg (8.8 lb) of gunpowder, 50 detonators, compact discs and printed documents from two militants detained in the capital and in Kishorganj, north of Dhaka, police said.
State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar asked police officials on Thursday to further beef up security in diplomatic areas, government centres, airports and public places. "It is immaterial whether there is a threat of more bomb attacks or not, but we must ensure the mischief-mongers have no respite," Babar told reporters after meeting police and intelligence chiefs.