124 convicts still in hiding

One hundred and twenty-four convicted activists of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, including three death-row convicts, are still in hiding as the nation passes today the seventh anniversary of the August 17, 2005 countrywide series of bombings.

The Jamaatul Mujahideen stepped into the spotlight as a hardcore militant outfit with the series of bombings in 634 places in all the 64 districts but Munshiganj, on August 17, 2005, in which two judges were killed in Jhalakati killed and scores of others injured across the country.

In subsequent attacks, the Jamaatul Mujahideen also killed at least 31 others across the country.

According to sources in the police headquarters, 341 cases were filed against the suspected JMB activists for the series of bombings.

Of the cases, 142 were filed for the August 17 blasts and 199 for the subsequent bomb attacks.

Different courts have so far delivered verdicts in 78 cases of the total 142, filed for the August 17, 2005 bombings, while the rest 64 are now under trial, said the Rapid Action Battalion's legal and media wing director Commander Mohammad Sohail.

In the verdicts in 78 cases, the courts sentenced 29 people to death, 92 to imprisonment for life and 77 to imprisonment for varying terms, he added.

The Jamaatul Mujahideen chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his operational commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and four other leaders were executed on March 30, 2007.

The law enforcers have so far arrested 1,192 people in connection with the cases.

The law enforcers are, however, yet to arrest 124 of the convicts, including three death-row ones, police sources said.

The law enforcement agencies have already arrested most of  the top leaders and activists of the Jamaatul Mujahideen and the Islamist militants are now in a decaying state, said the acting inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque.

Operations against banned militant outfits are going on in full swing and they would finally be eliminated from the country, he added.

Source : New Age