The head of the military wing of a banned Islamist militant outfit in Bangladesh was killed when a grenade exploded while he was in police custody in Chittagong on Tuesday.
Mohammad Javed, the 26-year-old textiles engineer who was heading the military wing of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was arrested on Monday along with four others in possession of arms and ammunition.
Nine hand grenades, 120 rounds of ammunition, a pistol, 10 knives and a large quantity of bomb-making materials were seized from them, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong police (Detective Branch) Babul Aktar told journalists.
He told reporters that Javed was accompanying police in a raid on the Oxygen-Kuwaish Road early on Tuesday after interrogation at night. “That is when a grenade exploded and killed Javed. Three policemen also suffered injuries.”
According to the police, Javed, who hailed from Chittagong’s Mirsarai region, was involved with the banned group since 2012.
The JMB came to the limelight when it detonated nearly 500 bombs across Bangladesh on a single day in 2005. Several key leaders of the group, including its former chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and military wing chief Bangla Bhai, were hanged on charges of killing judges.
Priest attackedAn attempt has been made on the life of a Christian priest in northern Pabna’s Ishwardi on Monday. Three youths, on a motor cycle, attacked Father Luke Sarkar, 50, at his home at the municipality’s Schoolparha area on Monday morning, said the police. Mr. Sarkar is the priest at the local Baptist Mission’s Faith Bible Church of God.
The priest managed to escape with a cut on his throat when his wife and locals cried for help. The police said some radical militant group might have carried out the attack, but no arrest has been made yet
Meanwhile, a northern Rangpur court has remanded two suspects in the murder of Japanese national Hoshi Kunio for 10 days. Kunio was gunned down by unknown assailants on October 3. The Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibilities for the murders of Kunio and an Italian aid worker, Cesare Tavella, who was shot dead in Dhaka on September 28.
