Satkhira police meanwhile have named Jama'atul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman as the main accused in five cases lodged on the same number of bomb blasts carried out in the district town on August 17. The charge follows confessions of four arrested JMB activists to their involvement in the terror attacks under the leadership of Abdur Rahman.

According to a BDNEWS report, all the four arrested at the ZIA are top JMB leaders. They are Kabir Hossain and Abdur Razzak of Barisal, Shafiqur Rahman of Madaripur and Mohammad Alam of Savar.

The first three were scheduled to fly for Dubai with Emirates airlines (EK 338) at 11am, immigration police officials told the news agency, and the fourth was heading for Saudi Arabia by a Saudi Airlines flight at 12 noon.

"Acting on a tip off, the immigration police offloaded the four at around 11am. All of them were travelling with tourist visas," immigration sources said, adding they were later handed over to the Special Branch of police.

Airport sources said a number of military and civil intelligence forces interrogated them throughout the day. The agencies have provided a list of more than a hundred people, clamping ban on their travel abroad, to the airport authorities.

Meanwhile, at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka, investigators grilled former Islamic Foundation director Moulana Farid Uddin Masud yesterday, the first day of his five-day police remand. Masud was nabbed at ZIA onboard a London-bound Emirates flight Monday.

The police also arrested Abdul Alim, personal secretary to Masud and vice principal in charge of Ashrafia Madrasa at Norer Chela off Baridhara in the capital, yesterday and one Abdus Sabur Chowdhury at ZIA on Tuesday night.

Our Satkhira correspondent reports: Four Islamist militants named Nasir Uddin, Moniruzzaman Munna, Anisur Rahman Khokon and Monwar Hossain Uzzal in their confession to the police have implicated Abdur Rahman in the five bomb explosions carried out in Satkhira on August 17.

The blast sites were the bus terminal, Sadar Hospital crossing, Judge Court premise, Women and Children Repression Court premise and the deputy commissioner's office.

Nasir and Moniruzzaman are in police custody at the JIC, where they made the confessions. The remaining two detainees had confessed to Satkhira police and were then transferred to the JIC Tuesday.

Acting on the information given by Uzzal and Khokon, Satkhira police yesterday arrested three more suspected JMB activists in connection with the blasts. They are Mamunur Rahman, Alamgir Hossain and Mahbubur Rahman Litton, police sources said.

Our Rajshahi staff correspondent writes: Police picked up four suspected Islamist militants from the Indian mission in the city yesterday afternoon. They are Mustafa Kamal, Nurul Islam, Asadul Islam and Abdullah Al Mamun of Gaibandha district.

The arrestees claimed to be members of Tableeg Jamaat, a non-political religious, and wanted to visit India along with four Saudi Arabian citizens on a 40-day preaching mission. They said they had come to Rajshahi the day before yesterday and went to the Indian consulate to get visa.

Terokhadia Jame Mosque trustee Abul Kashem Ali and Tableeg Jamaat leader Abdul Baki came to Boalia Police Station to lobby for their release and said the detainees had been staying at the mosque.

Our correspondent in Sirajganj reports: Police on Tuesday night arrested Manna Hossain of Hossainpur village in Sadar upazila.

Alamgir Hossain, lecturer at Hazi Karop Ali Degree College in Kamarkhand, and Belal Hossain, lecturer at Kamarpukur Dakhil Madrasa in Ullapara, held earlier in connection with the bomb blasts are on a weeklong police remand now.

HOME MINISTRY BRIEFING
Investigators have extracted some important clues from four of the 29 detainees quizzed at the JIC so far, Joint Secretary Mohammad Mohsin of the home ministry told a press briefing yesterday.

He did not name the four but said two of them were from Satkhira and two from Kushtia district.

The police have arrested a total of 154 persons across the country in connection with the blasts until yesterday, Mohsin said.