B'desh to reward surrendering militants in exchange for info

Battling rising militancy, Bangladesh's elite anti-crime force today announced financial rewards for militants who return to normal life and provide information about fellow terrorists and their Islamist outfits.
"If someone wants to return to normal life from banned outfits like JMB (Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh) and provide us information about the fellow militants will be given Taka 1,000,000 and all supports for his social rehabilitation," Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) chief Benazir Ahmed told a media briefing at northwestern Bogra.
Besides, he said, "anyone" who could provide RAB with information relating to militant outfits would be rewarded with Taka 500,000 while the informant' identity would be kept secret.

Ahmed's comments came as he was overseeing a combined operation of RAB, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police at rugged areas of Bogra as part of a countrywide anti-militant clampdown launched after the two back-to-back terrorist attacks earlier this month including the July 1 terrorist attack in a Dhaka cafe.
A total of 32 people including seven suspected terrorists were killed in the two incidents while the terrorists massacred 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two police officers, in Dhaka and six days later they killed two policemen near an Eid congregation in northern Sholakia.
As part of investigations into the incidents police arrested a senior professor of a reputed private University along with two others for their suspected links to the perpetrators of July 1 assault.

Earlier today, police arrested three people for an attack on Baul singers yesterday when suspected militants hacked four traditional mystic or baul singers in western Chuadanga where a number of them had rallied to join a mystic congregation.
Bangladesh has in recent months witnessed a series of deadly clandestine attacks on religious minorities and secular and liberal activists.
The ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks even though the government has denied their presence in the country.