The bomb squad of JMJB will continue such bomb attacks as JMJB treats movies, theatres and jatra (a local theatre form) as 'anti-Islamic' activities, said JMJB operative Shafiqullah while in police custody.

In Natore, the 12 militants of the Jama'atul Muhahidin Bangladesh, arrested from a mosque on Tuesday, told the police again that JMJB has also planned to carry on attacks on the NGOs.

Shafiqullah, arrested from JMJB operative Joynal's house at Chaksadu village of Gabtali upzila with explosives on January 16, also told police that JMJB carried out the bomb attack on a jatra show in Laxmikola village on January 14 that killed one and injured 40.

"The attack on Laxmikola under Shajahanpur was just a preview of JMJB's plan of carrying out attacks on jatra and theatre shows," a policeman, who interrogated Shafiqullah in the JIC (joint interrogation cell), quoted Shafiqullah as saying.

"The attack was meant to threaten people and to restrain them from performing and organising such cultural programmes," said Shafiqullah, adding, "But it was unfortunate that the attack killed a rickshaw-van puller."

Shafiqullah, who denied his involvement in the jatra show attack to First Class Magistrate SM Ferdous Alam, told police that he was inclined to join the bomb attack in Laxmikola.

But Joynal refused to take him as he was a stranger to the area, and would not have been able to flee since he did not know his way around, said Shafiqullah, adding that locals might also have been suspicious of a stranger in their locality.

A top Bogra police official told this correspondent that the police department fears attacks on those movie theatres that run pornographic movies. "We have asked the owners of such movie theatres to be alert and take preparations against such untoward incidents," he said.

The detective Branch (DB) of Bogra police also expressed its suspicion of JMJB's involvement in the Mymensing attack. Quoting sources, a DB policeman said JMJB took the decision long ago to carry out bomb attacks on movie theatres. He also mentioned that JMJB chief Abdur Rahman's origin is in Jamalpur, a close district to Mymensing where a couple of camps are located.

Bogra police are preparing to bring Shafiqullah in for another 10-day fresh remand, said a police source, adding that the Dhaka office has ordered related local police to take the necessary steps in this regard.

Meanwhile, it is alleged that some people are collecting tolls to carry on Islamic activities from Cornipara village under Gabtali upzila, the origin of Bangla Bhai.

Abdur Razzak, a member of Gabtali Sadar Union Council, denied the allegation, however, saying no such incidents have occurred in his area. But he admitted that a small amount of money, obtained from selling skins of cattle sacrificed during Eid, was donated to a newly formed madrasa, a common practice for the last couple of years.

Asked about Bangla Bhai, a representative of locals said he has been seen in the area for the last couple of months. Many of his operatives are active in Mahisban, Gordah, Masterpara and other surrounding areas.

"Many JMJB operatives were seen in those areas with the pilgrims who came from Afghanistan during last Ramadan," said the representative.

Our Natore correspondent adds: the arrested JMB militants in Natore told investigators that they were undergoing training in preparation for attacks against NGOs.

They also confessed during a primary investigation after their arrest that their comrades have sprouted throughout the district and neighbouring areas.

"We were jogging inside the mosque to train ourselves both mentally and physically against NGOs", a senior police official quoted one arrested militant as saying.

"Once upon a time the East India Company captured our country in the name of business; NGOs are the new form of the company. They are patronising anti-Islamic activities and taking people away from religion. We must prepare ourselves both physically and mentally to face them", the arrestee elaborated.

The highly placed police source said that most of the arrested persons were fresh recruits while two or three of them have been working for JMB for three years or more.

"They (militants) used to collect members in villages in the name of Islam and later inspired them with a revolutionary zeal", said Faruk Hossain, officer in charge of the Natore police station.

The arrestees include Alauddin, a madrassah teacher and the president of a Jamaat-e Islami Bangladesh (JIB) ward in Halsha union in Natore, as well as Jamaat activists Shahidul Islam, Anwarul Islam, Mokhlesur Rahman, suspected militant leader Forman Ali and Islami Chhatra Shibir worker Saiful Islam.