Grenade explosion kills detained militant leader in Bangladesh

Mohammad Javed, a textile engineer, was the regional head of JMB's explosive unit

An explosives expert of the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was killed today when he detonated a grenade while security forces searched for weapons in one of the hideouts of the militant group, police said.

The incident took place a day after police yesterday arrested 26-year-old Mohammad Javed and four other JMB members in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, amid an intensified anti-militancy security campaign.

Police also seized a cache of weapons from their hideout.

"After a night long interrogation Javed led a police team to a house saying they have stored some weapons there. As our detectives entered the house, Javed exploded a grenade," Chittagong ACP Babul Akhter told PTI.

The explosion killed Javed while two police detectives were wounded, the official said.

Javed, a textile engineer, was the regional head of JMB's explosive unit.

The development came as the authorities intensified an anti-militancy campaign following last week's murders of an Italian and a Japanese national, claimed by the dreaded ISIS terror group.

Officials and security experts earlier said years of massive anti-militancy campaign exposed the militant outfits to a dilapidated state despite their efforts to regroup.

JMB came to prominence after two of its operatives were killed on October 2, 2014, apparently in an accidental blast at a hideout in Kolkata's Burdwan area, near the border with Bangladesh.

The blast had triggered a security alert on both sides of the border with high-level visits by senior officials from each side. Several JMB activists were arrested in India and in Bangladesh following the blast.

Six top JMB militants, including the group's chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and second-in-command Siddiqul Islam 'Bangla Bhai', were executed in 2007 after trial in Bangladesh.