During a raid in city's Baliapukur area, police recovered designs of bombs, documents of bombing plan, electric circuits, plastic bottles, leaflets of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), and diaries containing guidelines for militants.

Meanwhile, militant kingpin Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai was known to have handed over the operations command of the banned JMJB to Abdul Awal, son-in-law of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman.

Sources close to JMB said Awal will now act as the operations commander of the militant outfit that claimed the responsibility for the August 17 serials blasts.

In Khulna, Islamic zealots yesterday threatened the divisional commissioner, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Khulna Range and local journalists with death, reports our Satkhira correspondent.

"You will be executed if you do not stop arresting our men and celebration of puja (Hindu religious festival)," reads a letter sent to Satkhira Reporters' Club by post.

"You are our Muslim brothers, so do not arrest our men to protect the non-Muslims," says the letter claiming to be issued by "White House (Bandakati), Bangla Bhai, Ahle Hadith and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh."

The letter says no Hindu worship or fair will be allowed in the division.

RAJSHAHI
Police recovered bomb-making materials and a number of books written by Jamaat leader Ghulam Azam and Prof Ruhul Amin and a notebook of Madina University scholar Abdul Gafur Al Madani from a Baliapukur house yesterday.

Police conducted the raid following statements of militants arrested in Natore on September 17 but they could not arrest anyone as they abandoned the den after the arrest of their men, our staff correspondent reports from Rajshahi.

Quoting from the seized documents the investigators told reporters that a group of 13 militants had conducted the blasts in Rajshahi city and one Enamul of Gaibandha acted as their commander.

Abdus Samad alias Abdul Awal, son-in-law of JMB chief Abdur Rahman, rented the Baliapukur house belonging to Rabiul Islam several months ago. Samad stayed at the house until August 30, the investigators said.

Samad escaped arrest in Natore on September 17 when police in a raid on their Mirpara den arrested four militants --Delwar Hossain Mithu alias Shihab, Matin, Hafizur Rahman, and Hasibul Islam.

BOGRA
Our Bogra correspondent adds: The JMB has decided recently to make Bangla Bhai, operations commander of the militant outfit, inactive as he was getting more focus than JMB chief Abdur Rahman, a source close to JMB said.

Bangla Bhai is now staying somewhere in greater Mymensingh, the source claimed.

The source, however, could not say for sure the whereabouts of the new operations commander Abdul Awal, who hails from Kaliganj of Natore. It is learnt that he had stayed at a rented house in Bogra for a long time.

According to the source, Awal has been given the responsibility to carry out bomb attacks on radio and television stations, telephone exchanges and some other key installations across the country and free the detained JMB and JMJB members.

Law enforcers suspect Awal has planned to carry out the first bomb attack in Joypurhat to free the arrested militants and then in Satkhira, Chittagong, Rajshahi and other divisional headquarters in phases.

Another source inside the JMB said Bogra, Noagaon and Gaibandha districts may be kept out of the bombing plan as the districts are known as the militants' strongholds.

The source said the JMB did not explode bombs in Munshiganj on August 17 as Abdur Rahman was staying in Munshiganj on that day.

BANDARBAN
Police are looking for the source of money spent on setting up madrasas and mosques in the hill district, our Bandarban correspondent reports.

They are also investigating the motive behind the recent visit of some officials of Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) in the area.

Sources said police are trying to know whether the Rohingya refugees living in Bandarban have any link to the August 17 serial blasts.

A temporary den of militants was found at Faitong in Lama upazila yesterday, around 500 yards off a police outpost. Locals said JMB cadre Laltu, arrested in Chittagong during October 3 serial blasts, and four others set up the temporary den in the first week of August to start militant activities from there.

Earlier, three JMB cadres arrested in Bandarban--Abdul Hafiz, Shafiqur Rahman and Moulana Abdul Malek--admitted their involvement in the August 17 serial blasts.

DHAKA
A Dhaka court yesterday placed a youth on a three-day remand for his alleged involvement in the August 17 serial bomb blasts.

Sutrapur police on Monday arrested Mosharraf Hossain, 25, of Kharugaon village in Munshiganj district. Police produced him at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court yesterday with a prayer for a five-day remand.

The primary investigation reveals that Mosharraf is a member of JMB and he is involved in the August 17 bomb blasts. Police said he needs to be quizzed to find out his accomplices and clue to the bomb blasts.

UNB adds: Babul Ansari alias Abu Taleb, the arrested junior security officer of parliament house, during the Joint Interrogation Cell quizzing yesterday mentioned the names of 20 persons, including Motin Mehedi and Mostafizur Rahman, as stalwarts in his clandestinely organised Islamist outfit, official sources said.

The 20 in the top order of the organisation were working at district levels across the country.

Taleb was arrested on October 5 by Detective Branch of police from his Green Road government staff quarter residence, following intelligence reports that he was involved in underground Islamist campaigns.

He, however, denied his involvement in any way in the August 17 bombings.

The investigators were trying to ascertain the relationship between Taleb and Motin Mehedi, one of the most wanted suspects in the August 17 incident while the intelligence agencies are yet to get any link of Taleb with the outlawed JMB.

KHULNA
Our staff correspondent from Khulna reports: JMB cadre Anisuzzaman, 30, arrested on Sunday in Gopalganj town, made a statement on Monday evening under section 164 before a first class magistrate in Bagerhat.

Anisuzzaman confessed that he had planted a bomb in an under-construction house in Bagerhat town on August 17. He also named some other JMB cadres who planted bombs at six other places in Bagerhat town the same day.

The JMB cadre also said that a secret meeting was held on August 13 at the house of Zillur Molla at Mollahat upazila where seven persons were assigned to carry out the bomb attacks in the district.

Anisuzzaman of Mollahat upazila told the magistrate that JMB cadres had been trained in the Ahle Hadith mosque at Udaypur village of Mollahat.

Bombs used on August 17 were delivered to him and other JMB cadres by one Shabbir, a khadem of Udaypur Ahle Hadith mosque.

He further said that a secret meeting was held on August 18 at Mollahat Ahle Hadith Madrasa to celebrate the serial blasts.

Meanwhile, JMB cadre Shahidullah alias Lokman was again taken on a five-day remand by Batiaghata police in Khulna yesterday. He has been shown arrested in a case filed with Batiaghta Police Station in connection with a bomb explosion on August 17 on the Khulna University (KU) campus.

Batiaghata police also took JMB cadre Mahbubur Rahman Palash on a five-day remand for questioning in connection with bomb blast on the KU campus. Palash was arrested at Satkhira on August 31.

Shahidullah has named Palash as one of the 12 JMB cadres involved in the August 17 serial bomb blasts in Khulna district.