Security forces backed by army helicopters launched a massive hunt in areas along Bangladeshâs western border on Thursday after an intelligence tip off that top fugitive Islamist militants were hiding there, officials said. Some 1,000 police, troops and members of the elite Rapid Action battalion searched several villages near the town of Kushtia, some 300 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, while four helicopters patrolled the sky, police and witnesses said. âForces have been conducting block raids in a wide region of Kushtia but have yet to catch the militants,â one police officer said. Officials said they were looking for Shayek Abdur Rahman, supreme leader of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen blamed for a recent wave of bombings, including suicide attacks that killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 in the past few months. Police were also searching for Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai, leader of another banned Islamic group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, and a close comrade of Shayek Rahman. âWe have tips that Shayek Abdur Rahman is hiding in the area. Maybe Bangla Bhai is also with him,â another police officer said.
It's over: An operation to find two suspected Islamic militants said to be hiding in Bangladesh's western Kushtia district has been called off, police say. The hunt ended because Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai from the banned Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) could not be found. Police say they have detained 10 people in the operation. One thousand security personnel were involved in night-long operations, police chief Abdul Quyum said.
Earlier, security forces, including elite anti-crime force the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), had cordoned off a 5-sq km area in Kushtia district. Police would not confirm if any of the 10 detained included JMB members.