Dhaka police arrest 'bomb expert'

Police say that several JMB members have been arrested Security forces in Bangladesh have arrested a suspected bomb expert belonging to an outlawed Islamist group and his wife in Dhaka, police say. A senior official from the Rapid Action Battalion force said that the man, Jahidur Rahman, was a senior member of Jammat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). The group has been blamed for a series of bombings in 2005.The official said Mr Rahman's wife had exploded a bomb trying to protect her husband during the raid on their home.He said that she and their two children had also been hurt in the incident. Explosives The JMB is one of several radical Islamic groups trying to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh.The RAB recovered one pistol, two bombs, two grenades, several rounds of ammunition and bomb-making materials from their house, the official said.Security forces also say that they carried out a second raid on a "JMB den" in the city, used to make bombs, train militants and store explosives."We have found a huge quantity of bomb-making ingredients and other materials including detonator, grenade casing, fuse, plastic explosives and chemicals in the camp in the city's Mirpur residential area," RAB Chief Hassan Mahmood Khandker told reporters.He said that equipment and chemicals for making mines were also found.RAB officials say it is the first time they have found mine-making materials from a militants' hideout.Police say that the JMB has recruited numerous women and trained them as bomb squad operators. They say that the group plans to boost its activities.Hundreds of the group's activists have been detained over the past two years, with many being put on trial. Some were involved in an assassination attempt on Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina in 2004, police said.