DHAKA: Bangladesh police today arrested four suspected women operatives of homegrown militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) blamed for the country’s worst terror attack on a cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed.
“We arrested the four women workers of JMB raiding a den of the outfit,” a police officer told PTI.
The four were arrested in northwestern Sirajganj district.
Police also seized grenade manufacturing materials, six homemade bombs and several jihadi books from the hideout during the raid.
Their arrest came days after police arrested a woman in connection the July 1 terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery here. Mass circulation Protom Alo newspaper quoting unidentified “sources” familiar with the investigation that she was previously known to at least one of the attackers.
The woman was arrested after elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) released a video footage of four suspected terrorists, including a woman, believed to be directly linked to the July 1 Islamist attack.
The attack left 22 people, including 17 foreigners, dead.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but the government denied their presence in Bangladesh, saying homegrown JMB militants were responsible for the assault.
In the CCTV footage of the attack, four persons including a woman were seen strolling around the western-style Spanish restaurant ahead of the attack. The woman was seen carrying something heavy in a vanity bag.
Bangladesh launched a massive security clampdown following the July 1 attack and the July 6 assault on a Eid congregation.
PTI