Reuters
Dhaka
Bangladesh detained three suspected members of a banned militant group, police said yesterday, as security forces step up a hunt for Islamists behind a spate of recent attacks.
Bangladesh has suffered from a wave of Islamist violence, with two foreigners, four secular writers and a publisher killed this year. Some of the attacks have been claimed by Islamic State.
The three men, who were active members of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, were caught in an overnight raid in the capital Dhaka, Monirul Islam, a police joint commissioner, told reporters, as the handcuffed men were paraded before the media.
A mobile phone network jammer and jihadi books were found in their possession, Islam said. Preliminary investigation showed the jammer was used during meetings to avoid leaking information, he said.
The group was believed to be behind a series of recent attacks, including bombings of a Shia shrine and the killing of a policeman, police said.
Tension has been rising in Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched a crackdown on militants, putting several leaders on trial for war crimes committed during the 1971 war of
independence.
Islamic State also claimed responsibility for an attack late last month on a Shia Muslim mosque that killed a cleric and wounded three other people at prayers, the second attack on the country’s tiny Shia Muslim community in a month.
The government has denied that Islamic State has a presence in the country. It blames Islamist political opponents for instigating the violence.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said action will be taken against those Alem-Ulema who are instigating militancy through their speeches in different places in waz mahfils (gatherings of religious
sermon).
“We’ve information that militancy is being provoked through waz mahfils. We’ll ask Alem-Ulema to show right path to those who are involved in militant activities. Our law enforcement agencies will take necessary action against those involved in such anti-state activities,” he said.