Though the members of the suicide squads recruited from different upazilas in Tangail have been identified, they are yet to be arrested as they left their own areas and remain in hiding since August 17.

Tangail police arrested at least 50 militants from different upazilas of the district since August 17. At least two of the arrested are members of suicide squads.

Intelligence sources said at least 200 JMB cadres still remain in the district. At least 30 of them were trained in suicide attacks. Twelve of the trained 30 are from Delduar upazila, six from Kalihati, six from Sakhipur, three from Basail, two from Nagarpur, and one is from Ghatail upazila.

Earlier, Faisal Ahmed, a member of a suicide squad who had been arrested from his village home at Balla in Kalihati for planting a bomb on August 17 near the Razarbag Police Line in Dhaka, told the police that militant activities and training at Kalihati were supervised by his cousins Shoeb and Russel.

Faisal also told the police that JMB trained the militants in the forests at Kalian under Sakhipur, and that Ataur Rahman Sunny, younger brother of Shaikh Abdur Rahman also the chief of the military wing of the banned outfit, used to visit the training camp.

JMB cadre Mamunur Rashid, arrested from Gazipur, in his confessional statement before a magistrate court in Gazipur said JMB trained the militants at Lawhati Jam-e-mosque in Delduar. Two hours physical training exercises used to be carried out after two hours of theoretical classes on 'Jihad' in the mosque at midnight.

JMB cadre Mohammad Zafar Alam, arrested from Khagrachhari, in his confessional statement before a magistrate court said JMB cadres Bellal and Shaheed were in charge of the Baropakhia training camp in Delduar. .

According to different intelligence officials in Tangail, JMB started its organising activities in Tangail in 2000. It established its operational bases at Ahle Hadith mosques at Balla and Rampur under Kalihati upazila, and at Delduar upazila sadar and its adjacent areas.

Later, JMB recruited minor boys from mostly poor families of different villages and from the madrasas in the upazilas as its members. Recruitments were directly supervised by JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his younger brother Ataur Rahman Sunny, also chief of the military wing of JMB. The militant network later spread across the district encompassing Basail, Sakhipur, Mirzapur and the Sadar upazila.

Enayet Ullah alias Jewel, who was arrested from Joydevpur in Gazipur early Monday morning for masterminding the recent Gazipur blasts and also for being one of the important leaders of JMB, had been sent to the area earlier to supervise militant activities in the region as a fulltime operative.

Faisal Ahmed told the police that Jewel had played a vital role in establishing strong militant bases at Habla in Basail and at Baropakhia and Lawhati in Delduar.