Bangladesh raids militant hideout, detains five
Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:17 GMT
DHAKA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Bangladesh security forces captured five outlawed Harkatul Jihad Islami (HUJI) militants following a gunfight at a hideout in southeastern Chittagong region on Monday, police said.
Several bombs, explosives and bomb making materials were seized from the hideout, which militants had been using as a training camp in a forest at Raozan near Chittagong city, some 300 km (288 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka.
The gunfight erupted when the elite Rapid Action Battalion raided the hideout early Monday following intelligence tips.
HUJI was blamed for attempting to kill former British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury at a Muslim shrine in the northeastern town of Sylhet in May 2005. Choudhury was wounded and three people including his bodyguard were killed.
In August 2004, HUJI was blamed for a grenade attack that killed 23 people and wounded 150 others at a Dhaka rally attended by then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. She escaped narrowly but suffered partial hearing loss.
Hasina took office in 2009 as prime minister for a second time following a massive election win, vowing to fight radical Islamist forces that have killed dozens of people in Bangladesh in bomb attacks in recent years.
Officials say Islamist militants, who suffered a blow in 2007 with the execution of six top militants in 2007, are trying to regroup and pursue their campaign to turn the Muslim-majority country into a sharia-based Islamic state. (Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Anis Ahmed) (nizamuddin.ahmed@thomsonreuters.com; +880-2-8330123; Reuters Messaging: nizamuddin.ahmed.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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