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Bangladeshi anti-crime force arrests banned group's four militants

Xinhua, February 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

Bangladesh's anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Wednesday arrested four members of a banned militant outfit in capital Dhaka along with firearms and explosives.

RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan told journalists that they are the members of Neo-JMB (an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh) blamed for the deadly attack on the Spanish cafe.

He said the militants were arrested Tuesday in capital Dhaka with religiously inciting books, two pistols, 21 rounds of ammunition, four sharp weapons, gun powder and bomb-making materials.

He said they also belonged to Sarwar-Tamim faction of the Islamist outfit.

Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian and Sarwar Jahan, identified as Neo JMB chief who was killed during a raid on Oct. 8, have been blamed as the masterminds of the brutal attack on the Spanish cafe that left 20 hostages including 18 foreigners dead on July 1.

Chowdhury was also killed in a police raid on Aug. 27 morning.

JMB carried out a series of bombings in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital 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. Endit