They nabbed some 135 suspects and lodged around 300 cases until last night.

Some of the arrestees, who claimed themselves to be members of the self-claimed militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were taken on remand and sent to Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) for further quizzing.

Sources said 63 probe committees were formed yesterday headed by superintendents of police of the districts to probe the blasts.

Besides, a five-member central committee, headed by Additional Inspector General of Police (Special Branch) Farrukh Ahmed, was constituted to monitor the situation.

Meanwhile, the police have decided to lodge separate cases for each of the bomb blasts with the police stations concerned.

Additional security measures have been taken in the border areas and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) was asked to remain alert so that none of the bombers or members of the militant groups can escape the country.

Dhaka: Fifteen separate cases were filed and four people were arrested in the capital yesterday.

The police arrested two people from Mirpur and two others from Uttara yesterday morning.

Of the 15 cases, five were filed with the Ramna, two each with Motijheel and Kotwali and one each with Lalbagh, Paltan, airport, Mirpur, Khilkhet and Demra police stations.

The airport police took the seven arrested Wednesday on a two-day remand each under Section 54 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), while Ramna police brought Ruhul Amin Bachchu on a five-day remand showing him arrested in a regular case.

Satkhira: Twenty people, including JMB activists Nasir and Munna, were nabbed in the district after the blasts. The two were taken on remand and brought to the capital for grilling in the JIC.

Chittagong: Police arrested at least 12 people in the past 24 hours ending yesterday morning and taken them on a one-day remand each.

Rajshahi: The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police arrested 12 men of Bangla Bhai in Bagmara upazila last evening for their suspected involvement in the blast.

Nine of the arrestees are Goalkandi Madrasa teacher Ershad Ali, Konabaria Madrasa teachers Absar Ali and Nijam Uddin, Khajura Madrasa teacher Abdul Kuddus, Afzal Hossain, Alhaj Hossain Ali of Nokhopara, and Amjad, Abdul Majid and Abdur Razzak of Baroihati areas.

The Rab held three others--Saikat Ali, Saiful Islam and Abdul Hakim Mondol--from different areas in Bagmara. "They are accused in the Dipankar murder case and so we suspect them to be involved in the blasts," said Motiar Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bagmara Police Station.

Dipankar was lynched by the cadres of Bangla Bhai's Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) at Atrai upazila in Naogaon on April 27, 2004.

Khulna: Four persons, including Golam Muktadir alias Babu, general secretary of Khulna district unit of Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh (Ahab), were arrested on Wednesday night.

Police recovered a lot of handbills, brochures, documents relating to the Ahab movement for seizing power of the state through armed struggle, and photocopies of judicial confessions made by outlawed JMB leader Asadullah Al Galib.

The Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up three others--Badal Howlader, Mujibar Rahman and Abul Kalam Azad--and took them on a ten-day remand.

Jahangirnagar University (JU): JU students yesterday held a suspected JMB activist Akkas Ali Chaklader from the campus and found the same leaflets with him that was found at each of the bombs blast sites on Wednesday. They handed him over to the police.

Dinajpur: Police in a combat raid nabbed two suspected militants Mojibar Rahman and Amar Faruque yesterday.

They also nabbed a JMB activist Hafez Shahidullah, accused in the 2003 bomb blast in Dinajpur, for primary interrogation.

Sirajganj: Police arrested two madrasa teachers--Alamgir and Belal Hossain--yesterday.

Police also arrested 14 in Jessore, 10 each in Lalmonirhat and Chapainawabganj, five each in Barguna, Feni,Mymensingh, Thakurgaon and Bogra, four in Gaibandha, three each in Barisal and Bagerhat, two each in Cox's Bazar and Panchagarh, and one each in Jamalpur, Jhalakathi and Laxmipur.

Meanwhile, police found a live bomb in front of a restaurant in Magura yesterday at 7:30am with the same leaflets believed to have planted for Wednesday's blasts.