The Islamic militant outfit, blamed for killing at least five outlaws in the northwest since April 1, hounded Badshah and Bari of the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) out of their homes and took them to its new camp in Kaligram Vetigram village in Atrai upazila.

The announcement that frightened villagers came as an apparent backlash two days after outlaws killed two cadres of the JMJB led by dreaded operations commander Bangla Bhai,

The JMJB says the two deserve "death penalty" for their alleged involvement in killing a 'number of people', and claims to have 'evidence of murder' against them.

The self-styled vigilante group yesterday caught two other suspected outlaws Bashar and Khejur, whose lynching was deferred as the JMJB 'could not gather evidence against them'.

The JMJB asked its operatives in different camps to be present in Vetigram village to witness the punishment at 10:00am and called local reporters by cellphone to be on scene to cover it.

JMJB operatives caught Bari in Shahbazpurbazar in Atrai and Badshah in Simba and Bashar in Bilghoria in Raninagar. The name of the village Khejur was picked up from could not be known immediately.

The raiders injured Rahima Bibi, 32, wife of Nasir Ali in Simba village, and damaged houses during the rampage that relived scenes of the outfit's past brutality.

The JMJB earlier caught a PBCP man and relayed by loudspeaker his screams in pain from beating to terrorise the neighbourhood.

Naogaon Superintendent of Police Fazlur Rahman told The Daily Star by phone last night that he had no information about the announcement.

As this correspondent insisted, he said in exasperation: "Police are on alert. I don't know how you got this information."

Police launched an awareness-building drive in the northwestern district, asking locals to remain vigilant against such activities and people are guarding their villages, he claimed.

On whether unarmed people will be able to fight the armed JMJB operatives, the officer said: "It is not only villagers who will fight. Police will fight them with locals."

On police success in anti-JMJB measures, Rahman said police arrested some people with links to the Islamist outfit without giving further details.

Private news agency UNB says police issued red alert in Atrai and Raninagar upazilas after the killings of JMJB cadres Nazrul Islam and Abdur Rashid at Saria on Monday night.

Bangla Bhai threatened to avenge the killings and vowed to continue his campaign against the PBCP.