Police sources said all the arrestees are active members of Hizbut Tawhid, an Islamic organisation that aims at establishing Islamic rule in the country through armed revolution.

The arrestees were identified as Abdul Hamid Mian, 44, of Tangail, Humayun Kabir, 38, of Munshiganj, Munir Khan, 28, and Mohammad Akkas, 32, of Barisal, Nurul Islam Khokon, 26, of Khulna, Jamal Uddin, 35, of Laxmipur, and Mohammad Raju, 26, of Satkhira.

Abdul Hamid, deputy assistant engineer of CUFL, and Humayun Kabir, sales manager of Suncrest Cola, are the ameers of Hizbut Tawhid's north and south units in the port city, the police said.

According to sources, a team from Bandar Police Station raided the Chittagong Export Processing Zone and Fakirhat areas and arrested five militants on Thursday night.

They arrested Hamid and Humayun early yesterday morning when the two came to the police station to see the arrestees.

The police seized around 200 leaflets and books on Jihad from the militants. The leaflets call for establishing Islamic rule in the country through armed revolution.

Sources said the militants were recruiting members in different areas of the city, inviting them to join Hizbut Tawhid. During a primary interrogation the arrestees confessed to have been working for the organisation in Chittagong for two years.

Quoting the arrestees, the police said the organisation's country chief is Bayezid Khan Panni, a cousin of former deputy speaker of parliament Humayun Khan Panni.

The organisation started its activities in Bangladesh in 1991, said Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Bandar PS Abul Khair Matubbar. The militants, however, denied having any connection with the outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), he said.

The arrestees were sent to the court yesterday.

"Our drive will continue along with other law enforcement agencies to catch other activists of the organisation," the OC told journalists.