26 May 2017

News Story: Bangladeshi elite force arrest 4 militants of banned group

DHAKA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday arrested four members of a banned militant outfit along with huge amount of firearms and explosives.

RAB in a statement said the militants are the members of Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, blamed for the deadly attack on the Spanish cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan on July 1, 2016.

The arrests were made during raids in capital Dhaka and two adjoining districts, it said.

"From their possessions, RAB recovered explosives and bomb-making materials."

According to RAB, the militants belonged to the "Tamim Chowdhury-Sarwar Jahan group" of Neo-JMB.

Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian and Sarwar Jahan, identified as Neo JMB chief who was killed during a police raid on Oct. 8 last year, have been blamed as the masterminds of the brutal attack on the Spanish cafe that left 20 hostages including 18 foreigners dead.

Read the full story at Xinhua