Abdur Rahman wreaked havoc on the nerves of the thousand-strong raiding party that kept vigil for long 34 hours encircling his Sylhet hideout with a determination to capture

the militant linchpin alive.

All along the operation since Tuesday night, the atmosphere around the single-storey Surya Dighal Bari was thick with a high-voltage tension. The law enforcers

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were afraid the fanatic terrorist leader might blow up the building or go for some other savagery anytime out of desperation.

"He is simply unpredictable; no one knows what he will do in such a situation," a senior officer of Rapid Action Battalion said early yesterday on condition of anonymity. He also remarked that Rahman is very sharp and has been trying to offset every move taken by Rab to flash him out of the house.

"To our knowledge, there is no other instance in this country where an accused criminal threatens to commit suicide or resist arrest even when surrounded by so many law enforcers," the Rab officer said, sighing with relief after Rahman's surrender. "It's what makes this operation unique," he quipped.

The law enforcers conducted the entire operation with utmost caution, as until Rahman's surrender they had not been sure what and how many explosives he had with him.

Their apprehension intensified

when the ensnared JMB chief warned he had powerful explosives and he would blast them if the law enforcers tried to force him into surrender.

"No one could say he would not do it, as he already had proved the cruel vein of his mind by killing so many innocent people in suicide bombings," said another Rab officer.

Although the raiders streamed tonnes of water into the house, they were not certain whether that really dampened or defused the explosives.

"We lobbed tear gas canisters to weaken him and poured water to defuse the explosives. But who could say he did not have more explosives or still good ones?" was the question that kept the law enforcers' nerves on edge, the officer explained.

They watched every move of Rahman with suspicion and wariness. Even when Rahman's family members came out of the house Wednesday noon and surrendered,

the Rab, police and BDR men were extremely alert. They feared that it might be a trap or a strategic move of Rahman.

Every sound coming from the house made them jump.

"If Rahman exploded the powerful explosives as he had threatened, the casualties would be huge," the Rab officer said.

The Rab team adopted and discarded one strategy after another to know what was going on inside Surya Dighal Bari. They inserted an espionage device with a camera at its top through a hole drilled in the roof and used another gadget to listen through the wall.

The raiding party members stayed on guard round the clock for 34 hours, taking only small breaks. A crowd of curious local people also hanged out on the periphery of the spot, holding their breath in suspense. When the JMB chief at last gave in the people in the area burst into cheers and jubilation.