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Bangladesh raids Islamist den, seizes explosives
Bangladesh security forces raided a hideout of an outlawed Islamist group, arrested a top leader and seized 70 kg of explosives, officials said on Sunday.
- Agencies
- Published: 18:53 November 16, 2008
Dhaka: Bangladesh security forces raided a hideout of an outlawed Islamist group, arrested a top leader and seized 70 kg of explosives, officials said on Sunday.
"On intelligence tips we raided a hideout and arrested a top commander of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group, and seized the explosives and 150 grenade shells," Colonel Gulzaruddin Ahmad of the Rapid Action Battalion elite force told reporters.
He said another group leader and suspected mastermind of its operations, Moulana Sayed, managed to escape during the raid in a Dhaka suburb.
The arrested militant, Hanif Kamal, confessed during interrogation that the group was planning to carry out sabotage in the capital ahead of Bangladesh's December 18 parliamentary election, in pursuit of the group's aim of making mostly Muslim Bangladesh into an Islamic country based on sharia law.
The group was blamed for a series of bombings across the country between August and December 2005, killing at least 30 people including judges, police and journalists. More than 150 people were wounded in the attacks.
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