JMB cadres hiding in Tangail shoal areas

Four of the 11JMB militants now in Tangail jail. PHOTO: Star File Photo

Eleven JMB (Jama'atul Mujahideen, Bangladesh) militants arrested from different areas of the district are now in the jail.

The measures followed Monday's surprise visit by DIG (Prison) Maj. Shamsul Haider Siddiky. He directed the jail authorities to take 'high security measures' in and around he jail, sources there said.

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"Systems in and outside of the jail have been tightened and check posts set up in different points on nearby streets", one source said. The 11 JMB activists were arrested from Tangail Sadar, Delduar, Ghatail, Nagarpur and Basail upazilas after the August 17 serial bomb blasts across the country.

Of the detained militants, Mohammad Yameen and Delwar Hossen, arrested from Baropakhia Quami Madrasa in Delduar on August 28, gave confessional statement before a First Class Magistrate about his involvement in the August 17 blasts.

Two other JMB detainees --Mainul Islam Ranga and Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan--arrested on June 13 said they experimented with bombs in a shoal in Nagarpur upazila.

The sources claimed that, as law enforcers intensified their drive against JMB, over 100 of its cadres believed to be involved in the August 17 serial bomb blasts across the country, are now hiding in remote shoals in Nagarpur and in forests and hills in Ghatail, Madhupur and Shakhipur upazilas of the district.

Quoting local people, they said strangers are often seen in the areas. They feel embarrassed when asked about identity, and say they have come to see relatives.

Asked by newsmen, Tangail Police Superintendent Mirza Abdullah-hel-Baki said he also heard about new faces in those areas and ordered police to investigate.

Police have been asked to visit the areas and prepare lists of new faces with the help of local Union Parishad leaders and members of Gram Sarkar. Suspects will be arrested, the SP added.