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| Bangladesh |
| Bangla: Militants hole up to evade arrest |
| 2005-10-10 |
| The border near Bandarban has been sealed off since Friday while strict security measures are in force after the law enforcers came to know of militants' dens and training camps in the hilly district. In Khulna, police have gathered that 11 cadres of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been assigned to explode bombs at 11 points across Khulna city on August 17. Identities of six of the bombers have been determined from the diary seized from Abdul Hakim Gazi, a teacher of Saint Joseph High School. Meanwhile, detained security officer of parliament secretariat Abu Taleb (Babul Ansari) and four of his accomplices--Saimum, Azizul Haque, Giasuddin Azad, and Mizanur Rahman Badsha--were transferred yesterday to the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) for intensive interrogation. Detectives arrested them for suspected links to JMB and the August 17 blasts. In the face of the recent countrywide crackdown, the religious extremists have started to hole up in the remote border areas of Bandarban, said sources. Hiding in inaccessible Naikkhongchhari and Alikadam upazila, they are organising themselves in collusion with Myanmarese insurgents belonging to Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Nationalist Organisation (ARNO), added the sources. Two Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives arrested recently in remote Faitong area have disclosed to the interrogators the existence of the militants' dens in the area. Sources said JMB might have gathered a huge cache of firearms and explosives from the Myanmarese gun-runners. The explosives and ammunition seized from Naikkhongchhari on different occasions are similar to the explosives used in the August 17 and October 3 serial blasts. Following the disclosure of militants' dens, the authorities on Friday night sealed off the bordering areas to prevent the infiltration of foreign terrorists and gunrunners. Forces in the bordering areas have also been increased significantly. A vast 288-km bordering area hemmed in by deep forests is known to be a safe haven for the terrorists. Bandarban police had detained five militants, including Moulana Abdul Malek, after the August 17 blasts, but after some time set them all free. Members of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) picked up Malek after finding a similarity between his handwriting and that on the envelopes mailed by JMB to different places. Sources at Faitong said a few days before August 17, outsiders posing themselves as vendors had rented houses in Bandarban town and adjacent areas. They fled the area soon after the countrywide explosions. But they were soon found wandering in the area again in the run-up to the courthouse blasts in three districts on October 3. Locals of Faitong caught Shafiqur Rahman and Abul Hafiz after the October 3 blasts on suspicion after the two had shaved off their beards. Bandarban Superintendent of Police (SP) Iqbal Bahar said of the three arrestees, only Abdul Hafiz has admitted his role in the blasts. |
| Posted by:Fred |