The JMJB and the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) have quickened their efforts to revitalise their activities in outlying villages in the two northwestern districts, the villagers said.

The JMJB that swelled its ranks with about 500 guerrilla units to take on its opponents is set to train new members in an effort to stage an Islamic revolution in Bangladesh.

"Our guerrillas will carry out secret killings," a JMJB leader said.

The Islamist outfit, blamed for killing at least nine suspected outlaws since April 1, went ahead with its anti-outlaw drive with support from the police, which prompted PBCP outlaws to mark police for death.

In a meeting with one Korban Ali in Chakdir village of Raninagar in Naogaon on Wednesday night, the JMJB laid out its operation plan, but its operatives did not give further details on it.

On the other front, PBCP operatives broke cover and are poised to launch anti-JMJB operations in some villagers.

Some PBCP men, locally known as sarbaharas, went to India to collect firearms and ammunition, including grenades and modern weapons, a source close to the PBCP told The Daily Star.

RAID ON OUTLAWS
The police busted two outlaw dens in Rajshahi on Saturday and arrested five PBCP members, including top leader Badrul Amin Pintu, with explosives, ammunition and documents.

It came as a surprise to the police and local journalists when the district detectives and Rajshahi Metropolitan Police discovered two PBCP offices from where the outlaws were operating in the northwestern region for the last five years.

Police seized seven bullets, explosives, diaries and notebooks used by top PBCP leaders, several thousand books and booklets, newsletters and bulletins.

Pintu, 24, believed to have roles in more than half a dozen murders and one of the top 10 terrorists in Rajshahi, bit Detective Branch Sub-Inspector Obaidul Islam in his frantic struggle to escape arrest. Obaidul was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital with bite wounds.

The raid came after confessional statements of outlaws Jewell and Babu arrested at Aziz Super Market in Dhaka on May 22, said Rajshahi Superintendent of Police Masud Mia.

"The confessions and arrests will help police unravel the mystery of more than a dozen murders here," the district police chief said.

The outlaws used the house of Abdur Razzak, a retired paramilitary officer, in Kharkhari, as their regional main office for the last five years.

Police seized several thousand leaflets from there that claimed responsibilities for the murders of BNP leaders Abdul Wahed, Majedur Rahman of Natore, Mansur Mridha of Naogaon, Abdul Hamid Moru of Bagmara and Deputy Minister Ruhul Kuddus Dulu's nephew Sabbir Ahmed Gama and Awami League leader Alo Khondokar.

Quoting Pintu, Boalia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ahmed Ali said the PBCP men used the house to lay out blueprints of killing.

Police arrested Pintu's associates and seized diaries, notebooks and documents in the second raid on the house of one Tunu in Hajrapukur, not far from Kharkhari.

OPERATION COMES TO HALT
Police have abruptly suspended the operation to arrest Bangla Bhai a few days after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia ordered the police to capture the operations commander of the Islamic militant outfit.

A police official, asking not to be named, said the police did not halt the operation but slowed it.

Rajshahi Deputy Inspector General Noor Muhammad, expressing disappointment, said: "Bangla Bhai has vanished into thin air."

Naogaon Superintendent of Police Fazlur Rahman told journalists: "When a country like America cannot capture Osama bin Laden (al-Qaeda chief) despite so much information about him, our inability to arrest Bangla Bhai is not unusual."

A citizens' rally protesting violence, anarchy and extremist activities in the northwest will be held at Shaheb Bazar Zero Point in Rajshahi today.

Language Movement veteran Golam Arif will preside over the meeting scheduled to begin at 4:00pm.

Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil, Communist Party of Bangladesh President Monjurul Ahsan Khan, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haq Inu, Gono Forum General Secretary Saifuddin Ahmed Manik, Gono Azadi League Presi-dent Abdus Samad and Samyabadi Dal President Dilip Barua are likely to address the rally.