B'desh bins media reports on "border seal" after Burdwan blast

, Oct 8:

today dismissed a report that India had sealed-off its border with it following last week's blast in Burdwan district in which banned Jamaatul Mujahideen was believed to have been involved.

"The matter was immediately verified from the concerned Indian authorities, who clarified that they have not given any such instruction," a statement from the Foreign Ministry here said without any further elaboration.

The statement came after Bangladeshi media quoted Indian newspapers saying India issued a security alert on frontiers and ordered seal-off of the loosely monitored border points between the two countries.

Initial investigations suggested five people believed to be involved in last Thursday's blast in Burdwan were operatives of outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). JMB and other militant groups like Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) seemed to have suffered a setback in view of years of massive anti-militant security clampdown but reports often suggest they were trying to regroup and work together.

JMB has carried out a series of bomb attacks across the country killing scores of people including two judges prompting the launch of a massive anti-militant clamp down.

Six JMB kingpins including JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and second in command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai were executed in 2007 following their trials while several hundred others were given long term imprisonments.

PTI