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Bangladesh hunting 2,000 potential suicide bombers
Police in Bangladesh are hunting about 2,000 potential suicide bombers from three banned militant groups demanding the introduction of Islamic law in the mainly Muslim democracy, a senior officer said on Wednesday.He said many of the militants had trained in Afghanistan under the Taliban and might be preparing more attacks after two judges were killed in a bomb blast this week. "They have assembled in the country to destabilise democracy," said the police officer, who asked not to be named. "All the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been ordered to put concerted efforts into capturing the members of the suicide squad," he told Reuters. Bangladeshi police acknowledged for the first time the presence of home-grown potential suicide bombers after the two judges were killed on Monday by a bomb thrown at their car in the coastal town of Jhalakathi, 250 km (155 miles) from Dhaka. A wounded young man detained at the scene told interrogators at a Dhaka hospital he was a member of the suicide squad of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group. "I was assigned to kill and die," the man, named Mamun, told a private television channel at the hospital where he is being treated for multiple injuries from the blast. "I wished to be a martyr in my efforts to establish sharia-based Islamic rule in Bangladesh," he added. Police have arrested 14 suspects, including Mamun's elderly father and a younger brother, after the deadly blast. Local experts said the bomb that killed the judges was the most powerful locally made explosive device ever used in Bangladesh. Police said a 2,000-strong "suicide squad" was drawn from members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and two other banned groups, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and Harkatul Jihad. "We are determined to find each member of the suicide squad, especially those who have returned from Afghanistan," Inspector General of Police Abdul Quayyum told reporters late on Tuesday. Bangladesh has been hit this year by a series of bombings blamed on Islamic militants who have threatened judges in their campaign for the introduction of sharia law. Bombs exploded in three district courts outside Dhaka on Oct. 3, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen, while 500 small bombs went off across the country on Aug. 17, killing two people and wounding about 100. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-16 |
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