Bangladesh cracks down on Islamist group after blast
Source: Reuters
DHAKA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Bangladesh police arrested four members of an underground Islamist group in a crackdown on Saturday, an officer said, a day after a suspected militant set off a grenade inside a police station wounding 10 people. The militant and three other members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen were being paraded before journalists along with weapons captured from them on Friday when he managed to grab and detonate a grenade. Police and journalists were among the wounded in the incident in Gazipur, 30 km (20 miles) north of the capital Dhaka. On Saturday police raided a suspected hideout near the site of the incident and arrested four more members of the Jamaat which has been waging a campaign for introduction of sharia law in Bangladesh. A police officer said explosives were also seized from the hideout. Police had tightened security across the country on reports that the group was planning to attack ceremonies marking a language anniversary on Saturday, he said.The day marks the killing of students by police more than half a century ago for demanding Bengali to be made a state language in what was then East Pakistan. The Jamaat suffered a setback in 2007 when six top commanders were hanged, but police and intelligence officials say their followers have been regrouping ever since and plotting attacks. (Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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