10kg bomb, 10 grenades found at JMB den
Rab arrests 4 militants from Mirpur mess
Staff Correspondent
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) recovered a powerful bomb, 10 improvised grenades, and bomb-making materials from a mess in the city's Mirpur early yesterday and arrested four suspected JMB operatives. Major Momtazur Rahman, an explosives expert of the elite crime busters, said the bomb weighing 10 kg could cause huge casualties within a 25-metre radius of the point of impact. It could detonate in two ways--three seconds after its pin is pulled out or after some pressure is exerted onto it, he added. The arrestees--Ishaq Sheikh of Gopalganj, Mohammad Anis of Bogra, Rafiqul Islam of Jamalpur and Khalilur Rahman of Rangpur--have been working at two garment factories in Mirpur. During preliminary interrogations, Ishaq and Anis admitted to having involvement in the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) while the other denied having any links to the outfit. A top intelligence official of the Rab said condition of the grenades and the bomb suggests that the improvised devices were ready for immediate use. The other items seized during the raid include three books on jihad, a soldering iron (tatal), a coil of lead, a drill machine, four pressure switches, two capacitors and some batteries. Director of Rab Intelligence Wing Asif Ahmed Ansary at a briefing at the Rab headquarters yesterday said that following up leads that the JMB operatives have regrouped at houses in and around the capital they launched a drive on August 1. With the help of Rab-11, they spotted a militants' den at Block C in Mirpur-12 Wednesday night. They entered the mess at house No. 8, lane No. 21 at around 2:00am, and recovered the huge cache of explosives. The four were busted for possession of the explosives. Ishaq and Anis claimed that a fellow JMB cadre named Jitu had kept those there a few days back. He [Jitu] would come and preach about jihad and its objectives. "He used to remind us that if necessary we will have to die for the cause," a bearded Ishaq told The Daily Star during the press briefing where all the four were paraded in front of TV cameras and journalists. He said Jitu is clean-shaven and he wears pants and shirt to cover his identity. Earlier on July 11, the Rab arrested a member of Majlish-e-Shura, the highest decision-making body of JMB, at his rented house in Mirpur. During the raid, they seized two 9mm pistols with nine bullets, seven computers, a large number of CDs and books on jihad.
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