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 Jama'atul 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.
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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.
Monirul Islam Monu from Bandarban reports: 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 Jama'atul 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.
"We do not have any confirmed information about militant activists in this area. Yet, we have set up 50 check points in the district to ensure security," the SP said.
He said security has been beefed up at Radio Bangladesh Bandarban, court premises, the District Collectorate
Building, police stations, and other important places of the town.
KHULNA
Our staff correspondent from Khulna adds: JMB cadre Shahidullah alias Lokman, 18, told police on Saturday that all but one who took part in the August 17 serial bomb blasts hail from Satkhira district.
Police said 11 JMB cadres were assigned to stage blasts at eleven spots in Khulna city.
The diary recovered from the possession of schoolteacher Abdul Hakim Gazi contains the names of some of the participants in the August 17 blasts in the city.
Six of them have been identified as Shahidullah, Moulana Arif, Musa, Shahidul, Khokon and Mahmud alias Palash alias Liton. Of them, Palash and Anisur Rahman Khokon are now in Satkhira District Jail. They had gone into hiding soon after exploding the bombs, but were arrested on August 24 in Satkhira.
A police source quoting Shahidullah said Mahmud is the operations commander of the Khulna division unit ofJMB. He and Moulana Arif had distributed bombs among the JMB cadres of Satkhira, Bagerhat and Jessore on August 16. The bombs were made in the house of Abdul Hakim.