Bangladesh today arrested five suspected militants of the banned homegrown JMB blamed for a series of deadly attacks, including the trainer of its women wing, in twin raids here during which firearms and explosives in large quantities were also recovered from their posession.
Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) stormed two hideouts in Dhaka's Gazipur district, arresting Rasheduzzaman Rose, a Canadian expatriate who is also the acting southern- region chief of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the Dhaka Tribune reported.
Major Ajam, second-in-command of RAB-1, said a team conducted a drive in Tongi Station Road area around 12.30 AM.
Rasheduzzaman, who took over as the JMB's regional chief recently, was among those arrested, reports quoted RAB's legal and media wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan as saying.
The other persons arrested were identified as Sahabuddin, Firoz, and Saiful, members of the same outfit, and Abul Hye, a leader of another militant outfit Ahl al-Hadith.
RAB have also seized a large number of explosives, firearms and improvised bombs from the hideouts, Khan added.
Bangladesh police have blamed JMB for the two recent terror attacks, including the Dhaka cafe siege on July 1 in Gulshan area in which 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed in the brutal late-night attack.
The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the Gulshan attack, releasing photos from inside the cafe during the siege and of the five men who carried out the deadly assault and were shot dead at its finale.
Bangladeshi authorities had dismissed ISIS claims over the deadly assaults, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third largest Muslim majority nation.
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