The arrestees are condemned killer and a member of JMB's reconstituted Majlish-e-Shura Asadul Islam alias Arif and another Shura (highest policymaking body of JMB) member Anwar Hossain alias Faruq, Mymensingh regional commander Shafiqul Islam alias Rakib, Sagar Hossain alias Sayem and Saiful Islam.

Arif is one of the seven condemned killers of two Jhalakathi judges in the district town on November 14, 2005. The other six including JMB supremo Abdur Rahman and his deputy Bangla Bhai were executed in different jails on March 29.

During the raids on Tuesday and Monday, Rab personnel seized two 9mm pistols with nine bullets, seven computers, a large number of compact disks (CDs) and books on 'jihad'.

Rab officials told a press briefing yesterday they arrested the two top JMB leaders following leads from Sagar Hossain and Saiful Islam,

Locals in Muktaghchha upazila of Mymensingh caught Sagar and Saiful and handed them over to police when they were fleeing after gunning down madrasa teacher Rafiqul Islam at Titlia village on Monday morning.

The two arrestees were then taken to local camp of Rab-9 where they were quizzed. Both admitted that they killed Rafiq on orders from Faruq and Rakib.

Acting on information given by them, a team led by Rab Mymensingh camp commander Major Iqbal raided Rakib's house in Akua Chukaitola area of Mymensingh town at around 3:30am on Tuesday and arrested Arif and Rakib along with their wives.

A joint team of Rab intelligence wing and Rab-9 then raided Faruq's rented house in the capital's Mirpur at around 10:00am on Tuesday following information given by the arrestees.

Rab officials said sensing their presence, Faruq opened fire on Rab personnel. Rab responded to it with fire and Faruq was injured. He was then arrested, and two pistols, bullets, computers, CDs and books on jihad were seized from his house.

At the press briefing, Rab Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said arrest of the JMB leaders particularly the two Shura members is a remarkable success of their activities. "We will not stop with this success, we will continue our efforts to combat militancy," he added.

Earlier, Rab Intelligence Wing Director Lt Col Asif Ahmed Ansari briefed journalists about the raids.

"JMB HAS NO LINK TO RLY STATIONS BLAST"
Detained reconstituted Majlish-e-Shura member of outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Asadul Islam alias Arif yesterday said the JMB had no links with the near-simultaneous bomb blasts at three railway stations on May 1.

Intelligence Wing Director of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Lt Col Asif Ahmed Ansari corroborated this and said that no substantial evidence was found linking JMB with the blasts.

He however hoped to hunt down the ones responsible for the blasts soon. "Zadid al Qaeda, Bangladesh [means New al Qaeda or an Establishment of al Qaeda] claimed the responsibility of the blasts that injured a rickshaw puller in Chittagong.

Another detained JMB member, Sagar Hossain alias Sayeem, told The Daily Star that he, at the directive of Arif and another detained shura member Anwar Hossain Faruq, had shot Jhalakathi Public Prosecutor advocate Haider Hossain who was the chief counsel of the case filed against JMB militants for killing two Jhalakathi judges.

Still a teenager, Sagar said Faruq gave him a pistol and sent him along with three others from Dhaka to kill Haider on April 11. He said that he himself shot Haider at point blank range.

Locals at Muktagachha caught Sagar and another JMB member while they were feeling the scene after shooting a madrasa teacher at Muktagachha on July 9.

Following the arrest and execution of six top JMB leaders including the outfit's supremo Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Bangla Bhai, Arif played a pivotal role in JMB.

Arif said that following the death of their leaders, the organisation was reconstituted under the leadership of present JMB ameer Moulana Saidur Rahman -- who was a former ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Habiganj unit.

The four other new shura (highest policy making body members) members he named are himself, Anwar Hossain Faruq, Abdullah Tashnim and Abubakar Siddiq Nahid alias Russell. Of the five shura members, JMB ameer Saidur Rahman and Russell are still at large.

During the brief conversation outside a press briefing, Arif, a condemned killer of two Jhalakathi judges, told The Daily Star how he conducted suicide attacks on the judges and where his hideouts were.

Asked if he regretted killing the judges or being involved in militant activities, Arif confidently told journalists present at a press briefing at Rab headquarters, "Ideologically, I am right."

Three other JMB activists accompanied him at the press briefing.

Arif said the then JMB shura member Khaled Saifullah -- the in-charge of Barisal region -- with the assistance of other top JMB leaders, made the blueprint to kill senior assistant judges Jagannath Pandey and Sohel Ahmed by carrying out a suicide bomb attack in the district town on November 14, 2005.

"Being directed by Khaled Saifullah, I brought Shakil alias Mollah Omar to a house at Jhalakathi where he [Mollah Omar] made the bomb that killed the two judges," Arif said adding, another executed JMB leader, Mamun, later carried the bomb with him.

Shakil, nick-named after Al Qaeda leader Mollah Omar for his expertise in bomb making, was killed inside a Comilla den during encounter with Rab on March 13, 2006.

Father of a 19-month-old girl, Arif said that before moving to Mymensingh in the first week of July, he hid in a house at Faidabad in Uttara. Arif, hailing from Barguna and a Kamil student at Nesaria Kamil Madrasa in Barguna, joined the JMB in 2002.

Asked whether JMB received foreign funds, Arif said since he only needed around Tk 5,000 a month for his personal expenses, it was quite easy to arrange that fund from local sources. JMB activities did not require a large amount of either.