Bangladesh arrests over 8,000 people in anti-militant drive

Another 3, 245 more people have been arrested in the third day of Bangladesh's on-going week-long anti-militant drive, bringing the total number of arrestees to over 8,000, a police official said Monday.

A. K. M. Kamrul Ahsan, a Bangladeshi police spokesman told journalists that "3,245 people including 34 militants across the country were detained as part of the drive in the last 24 hours till 6:00 a.m. (local time) Monday."

Police earlier detained 5, 324 people, including 85 suspected militants in the first 48 hours of the clampdown against militants.

Among the 119 suspected militants arrested in the three days, most are reportedly members of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombings in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including the capital of Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.

Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said the week-long clampdown was aimed at dismantling all terrorist outfits and their networks in the country.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a surge in violent attacks in recent years.

A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers have been killed or seriously injured in attacks carried out by extremists since 2013.

In most of the cases, it was noticed that the attacks were carried out by motorcycle-borne assailants.

A day after the spouse of a top Bangladeshi police officer was shot dead by suspected militants in the country's seaport city Chittagong, some 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs Monday banned motorcyclists from carrying more than one passenger for preventing militant attacks. Endit