Tipped off that some JMB cadres had assembled at Probhati Club near Habla Government Primary School, a contingent of Basail police raided the area at around 4:00am.

Sensing the presence of police, some 25 militants sheltering in the club opened fire on them. Police returned fire, leading to a 15-minute shootout, police said.

Scare gripped the locals as the gunshots echoed through the village in the still of the night.

Sub-inspector (SI) Abdul Haque, Constable Abul Bashar and Mohammad Humayun received bullet wounds during the gun battle while the militants escaped unhurt from the scene.

The injured policemen were undergoing treatment at Tangail Police Lines Hospital.

Police said they had fired 30 bullets during the gunfight, which left the upazila simmering with tension.

Nine rounds of ammunition for shotgun and rifle used by the militants were recovered from the spot.

Officer-in-Charge of Basail Police Station Jibon Kanti Sarkar said many JMB operatives are holed up at Habla and adjacent areas. "We are trying to nab them," he added.

Tangail Superintendent of Police (SP) Mirza Abdullah-hel-Baki visited the spot yesterday morning.

A case has been filed with Basail Police Station, but no one has been arrested so far in this connection.

Tangail is considered a hotbed of militant activities. JMB has an extensive network linking over 25 mosques in Mirzapur and Shakhipur upazilas. Those mosques in Dhanchala, Dakhshin Taktarchala and Phulgachichala villages in Mirzapur and Taktarchala Uttar Para, Moulana Para, Hatibandha and Kamilachala villages in Shakhipur had been set up with the financial assistance of Kuwait-based non-government organisation Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS).

Sources said JMB activist Abul Bashar alias Hossain Mahmud alias Hossain Ali who carried out the November 29 suicide attack on Chittagong court premises and died from his injuries on Thursday was a muajjin of one of these mosques.

Locals said people from outside have been frequenting the mosques and holding meetings there for the last three years. The Taktarchala Dakhshin Bazar Mosque is one of the widely used meeting venues.

A number of locals in Taktarchala Dakhshin Bazar recently told The Daily Star that an unknown person introducing himself as a scholar from Medina University visited the mosque last year. He held several meetings inside the mosque with some other people.

They stopped the meetings as their activities raised suspicions among the villagers. Imam of the mosque Abdullah-hel-Baki acknowledged the incident to be true.

Tangail police have so far arrested 29 militants in the district since the August 17 serial blasts across the country.

Of them, 19 are now behind bars and Yameen Miah of Delduar has given confessional statement before a magistrate.