Bangladesh police said yesterday they had seized a large quantity of explosives from a suspected Islamist militant hideout where two people were killed making grenades.
Police recovered 20 grenades and a large quantity of the explosive gel used to make them as well as four pistols when they stormed a house in the north of the country.
“Some 200-300 grenades could be made with the gels that we’ve seized from the house,” Sherpur district police chief Mohammad
Asaduzzaman said.
“Our officers stormed the building after two people were injured as they were making a grenade at the house on Sunday night. They died on the way to hospital,” he added.
The head of the local police station said the two were suspected members of the banned militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
“We’re yet to find out their identities. But we suspect the house was being used by the JMB,” Khan Erfan said.
“The explosives we found at the house are similar to the ones used by the group.”
Police have blamed the JMB for a spate of deadly attacks in recent months targeting the country’s religious minorities and foreigners.
Experts say a long-running political crisis has radicalised opponents of the government, leading to the unrest.
Since November at least five JMB commanders have been killed in shootouts with
security forces.
Bangladesh banned the group in 2005 after it carried out a series of blasts across the Muslim-majority nation.