FM Mizanur Rahaman, Ctg

Militants who allegedly carried out a bomb blast at a traffic police box of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) in February learned bomb-making online, said Counter Terrorism unit of CMP yesterday.

They made the claim after arresting three suspected operatives of Neo-JMB -- an ultra-radical offshoot of banned outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) -- from the port city’s Bakalia area on Sunday night.

The arrestees are Md Emran (25), Md Saifullah (24) and Md Abu Saleh (25).

Emran is a student of Chittagong University, while Saleh studies at National Polytechnic College. Saifullah worked as computer operator in the city’s Chawakbazar area, the law enforcers said.

“With the help of LIC unit of Police Headquarters, CT officers traced the militants and arrested them from a flat in Bakalia-DC road,” Deputy Commissioner of CT unit Hasan Md Showkat Ali told The Daily Star.

“They are self-motivated militants, and carried out the attack on police as their first operation,” added the DC.

Seeking anonymity, a CT official told this newspaper that the miscreants used remote key of motorbike as a remote-control device to set off the explosive.

Sgt Arafat, Assistant Sub-Inspector Atauddin and three pedestrians were injured when the bomb went off in the city’s Sholoshahar area on the night of February 28. According to SITE Intelligence Group which tracks online activities of jihadist, IS claimed the responsibility of the police box attack similar to Dhaka and Khulna.

However, police ruled out the IS link.