Bangladesh court sentences 8 JMB militants to life
PTI | 11:08 PM,Aug 31,2010Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Aug 31 (PTI) Eight Islamist militants of the hardline Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh were today sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in a series of synchronised blasts that rocked the country in 2005.Bangladesh was hit by nearly 500 near-simultaneous low-intensity blasts on August 17, 2005 and authorities said they were engineered by the JMB to press for its demand for establishing an Islamic state.The eight militants were arrested in the months following the blasts, that prompted a nation-wide crackdown against terrorist groups.A court in northwestern Nilphamari jailed the eight militants for life for their role in the blasts in the district, officials said.Over 20 people were killed in the blasts following which the elite Rapid Action Battalion hunted down top militants of the JMB.JMB leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman, and five others were sentenced to death and hanged in March 2007. In a related development police in southern Shariatpur district overnight arrested nine suspected militants belonging to Allahr Dal, believed to be an outfit of JMB.They were remanded in custody for four days on a court order today.Security officials have said that major crackdown against it has left JMB in a bad state and the outfit has lost their its strength.Bangladesh witnessed the growth of several Islamist militant outfits, including JMB and Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), in the past one decade.These organisations carried out a series of terrorist attacks as part of their campaign to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh.
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