Police in northern Bangladesh arrested seven suspected militants tied to a banned Islamic group and seized a large cache of bomb-making materials, an official said on Thursday.
The raids came days before national elections to restore democracy, though police said it was unclear whether the explosives were part of any plot to disrupt the polls.
Officials seized at least 50 casings of grenades, explosives, batteries and books on jihad, or holy war, according to S.M. Muniruzzaman, police chief of the Gaibandha district where the arrests were made in separate raids on Wednesday and Thursday.
Police initially arrested three men and seized the materials from them. Later, they picked up four other people in the district using information from the three earlier detainees, the official said.
He said the suspects are members of the Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh group, which has been blamed for bombings in Bangladesh in recent years.
Muniruzzaman said the suspects confessed that they are linked with the banned group.
“They have given some other names, we are trying to arrest them too,” he said. “We’re interrogating them for more information.”
Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh has been blamed for more than 400 small bombs that exploded across Bangladesh on one day in 2005, killing two people and wounding dozens. Since then, the militants are believed to have killed another 24 people and wounded dozens.
The group wants to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 150 million people that is ruled by secular laws.
Six top members of Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh were hanged last year, including its leader, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, after they were found guilty of carrying out bombings and killing two judges.
Muniruzzaman said it was not immediately clear if the militants were preparing to disrupt the national elections slated for Monday after nearly two years of military-backed interim rule.
Bangladesh had been under a state of emergency since last January, when President Iajuddin Ahmed canceled scheduled elections after weeks of street violence over electoral reforms. The emergency rule was lifted on Dec. 17 in preparation for new elections.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese