26 suicide bombers trained in Jhenidah, only 1 held

Only one of the 26 has so far been arrested and the rest are in different placed in the country. He is Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, arrested on November 18 from near Borodah Dakhil Madrassa in Shailkupa.

Bulbul earlier escaped arrest on October 20, 2003 when 11 other militants including the chief of Allahr Dal Matin Mehedi alias Matinul was arrested from a students' mess at Pabahati area in Jhenidah town during training.

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After his arrest, police and confirmed that Bulbul was a member of JMB suicide squad.

The youth who deserted HuJi said members of the suicide squads were recruited from different upazilas in Jhenidah. They are hiding since the August 17 serial bomb blasts across the country, he told this correspondent.

Eleven of the suicide squad members are from Jhenidah Sadar upazila, seven from Shailakupa, five from Kaliganj, and three from Harinakundu upazila.

There are at least 145 JMB and HuJi cadres in Jhenidah, according to the deserter who also got trained.

The youth also told this correspondent that the chief of another Islamist militant outfit Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla bhai along with JMB 'military commander' Ataur Rahman Sunny went to Jhenidah between November 29 and December 2 and stayed for about a week at a house in Arabpur area in the town.

Sunny however was arrested by RAB in the capital on December 14.

"Somehow I came to know that during his stay in Jhenidah, Bangla Bhai was clean shaved and was wearing pant and shirt, but I can't say in which house he stayed as the exact address was concealed to avert police raid", he further disclosed.

When asked how he got information being a deserter, he replied, "I deserted the militant outfit without any announcement when I relished that Islam prohibits killing of innocent people. They are not aware of my desertion and I still get information about activities of militant groups"

Jhenidah police however termed the story of Bangla Bhai and Sunny's visit to Jhenidah a 'propaganda' and denied existence of suicide bombers or any militant camps there.

"It is not likely that Bangla bhai and Sunny visited Jhenidah when bounties have been announced and police hunt is on to nab them", Jhenidah Police Superintendent Akram Hossain told this correspondent. The SP also denied existence of militants' training camp there now.

The deserter claimed that training of JMB and HuJi cadres started in Jhenidah in 1999 and was on till August this year.

Militants kingpin Mufti Abdul Hannan used to supervise HuJi training camps while JMB 'military commander' Ataur Rahman Sunny was directly involved in training JMB cadres when he was a student of Daw'ah and Islamic Studies in Kushtia Islamic University in 1998-1999 session.

One Harun of Chittagong, in the guise of a muajjin of a mosque in Upashaharpara, was Jhenidan district in-charge of HuJi in 2001.

Apart from camps at Balidapara in Kaliganj, Bhabanipur in Harinakundu and Graganj in Shailakupa, training was also conducted in students' messes in Pabahati, Bhutiargati, Chaklapra and Dhol-Somudrer-Pukur in the district town.

Militants have been trained in three different phases.

Training was also given in a forest in Chittagong, the youth disclosed. Militants were trained in use of sophisticated firearms like AK-47 and bombs. He however could not identify the training spot in Chittagong as the trainees were blind-folded when they were 10 to 15 kilometer away from the spot while being taken there, he claimed.