Three suspected Islamic militants were arrested in northern Bangladesh Thursday along with a "huge" quantity of explosives four days before the country goes to its first polls in seven years, police said. The three are members of the banned Islamic extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which has been blamed for a series of blasts in 2005 that killed at least 28 people, the police chief of northern Govindaganj district, S.M. Shibly said. "We raided their premises acting on a tip-off. We seized a huge quantity of explosives and shells of grenades. The explosives were enough to make at least 50 grenades," he said. Shibly said the three include a regional commander of the JMB, which intelligence officials said has been trying to reorganise in recent months after its leaders were arrested and executed in March 2007.
The triple arrest came just days after two suspected militants from the same group were arrested in the southeastern Comilla district after one hurled a grenade at a member of the country's elite security force.
The raid happened in an area where two hours earlier Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia was holding a rally ahead of Monday's election that will restore democracy after two years of an army-backed regime. Zia, an ex-premier, said the extremists were plotting to kill her ahead of elections.