Bangladesh crackdown on Islamist militants after attack on police

Feb 22, 2009, 17:24 GMT

Dhaka - Bangladesh has launched a crackdown against Islamist militants, arresting 14 suspects across the country, the Home Minister Sahara Khatun said Sunday - two days after an attack in a police station.

'The anti-terrorism cells of the criminal investigation department and the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion have intensified their efforts under a comprehensive anti-militancy offensive,' Khatun said in a statement delivered in parliament.

She told parliament that sponsors who finance the militants and supply arms and ammunition would also be tracked down and brought to justice.

Sahara said that her forces captured the 14 suspected militants belonging to the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) organization and seized a pro-jihad books, leaflets and DVDs.

The crackdown comes after an attack inside a police station on Friday, when JMB militants exploded a grenade shortly after a press conference to announce their capture. That attack, in Gazipur, injured at least 15 people.

'Militancy is the enemy of the country, democracy and constitution - all the radicals will be brought to justice,' Khatun said.

According to intelligence reports, militants in Bangladesh have been regrouping under the banner of JMB, which the government officially banned in February 2005, and calling for sharia or Islamic law in the Muslim-majority country.

The group is responsible for a spate of major attacks on public places, killing dozens of people, including several judges, in recent years.

Six senior leaders of the JMB were hanged in early 2007 for their role in bomb attacks.

The home minister claimed that the militants had planned a massive attack ahead of the celebration of International Mother Language Day, but the police had circumvented the plans.