Bangladesh: Bomb making chemicals found at militant hideout

The hideout is suspected to have belonged to Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh militants.

Dhaka, April 22: Police in Bangladesh on Saturday found at least 17 large containers of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used to make bombs, from a suspected militant hideout in Jhenaidah district.

The recovery was made after a team of 30 members of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit resumed their operation for the second day at a house in Porahati village, used by the suspected Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh militants, in the morning, The Daily Star reported.

Besides the containers, a 7.65 foreign made pistol, seven bullets and 15 to 16 jihadi books were also recovered from the militant hideout. Jhenaidah is some 178 km west of capital Dhaka.

"Around 10 a.m., police moved to the house. Some of the bombs have been already disposed...The 30-litre containers are marked hydrogen peroxide," a senior police official told bdnews24.

Based on a tip-off, the team on Friday conducted the raid at the house.

According to the police, the owner of the house was one 'Abdullah', who converted to Islam from Hinduism five years ago, and was a member of a militant group in the district.

Police on Friday claimed that the suspected militants had fled the spot before the CTTC began the operation.

Police said they also found some suicide vests in the house.

A senior police official told bdnews24 that the Neo-JMB - the revived edition of militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh - was using the house as a "bomb-making facility".

Last month, CTTC officials busted five hideouts of Neo-JMB -- two in Chittagong, one in Sylhet and two in Moulvibazar, reports The Daily Star.

Nineteen people, including five children and five women, were killed in those incidents.

According to police, 16 of them were killed in suicide blasts.

Security has been tightened in Bangladesh since Neo JMB militants attacked a cafe in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan area on July 1 last year, killing 22 people, mostly foreigners.

Law enforcers in Bangladesh have cracked down on the Neo-JMB since then.

IANS