The home ministry of Bangladesh has announced reward for information leading to the arrest of Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, both accused of masterminding the Aug. 17 serial bomb blasts in the country in which three people were killed and over 150 others injured.

The home ministry made the announcement Sunday seeking help from the people to trace the hideouts of Abdur Rahman, chief of banned Islamic militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Bangla Bhai, chief of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), another banned Islamic outfit, but did not mention any amount of reward.

Both Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai have gone into hiding since the arrest of a number of JMB and JMJB activists from different areas of the country in connection with the Aug. 17 bomb blasts.

The intelligence agencies and the investigating officials received the information about the involvement of the two militant leaders after the Joint Interrogation Cell interrogated a number of arrested suspects since the bomb blasts. However, the intelligence agencies and the law enforcers continued hunt for the prime accused in the blasts but failed to arrest the masterminds of the incident till Sunday.

Home ministry sources said that the intelligence agencies had prepared a list of JMB and JMJB activists and leaders and issued a circular Sunday directing all police stations, entry points of borders and the international airport to keep constant watch so that the leaders and activists of the two Islamic groups could not leave the country or avoid arrest.

The investigating officials were also certain about the involvement of the Janajuddha group (People's War group) of the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (East Bengal Communist Party) in the Aug. 17 bomb blasts.

A top leader of the extremist group, who hid himself in the capital since last November, was arrested from a garments factory in the city Sunday.

Meanwhile, police raided different places of the capital and elsewhere in the country to arrest the militants who kept bombs and bomb-making materials. Police in a pre-dawn swoop Sunday arrested three JMB activists from the southern Narayanganj.

Trained professionals manufactured the Aug. 17 bombs using materials mostly available in common markets and worth a maximum of 100 taka (1.5 US dollars), said a report of the government's explosive experts.

Such a low cost and simple methods for making bombs sends a " clear alarm for everyone" that a terrorist can attack at any place at their desired time with their desired devastation, the report noted.

The report put a maximum price of 40 taka for all the materials used in each of the bombs, except for the detonator.

Aside from the detonators, all the parts of such a bomb are available in electrical spare shops in the country.

The experts could not determine the country of origin of the detonators as it is not available in the local market.

Investigation shows that a militant group does not need a lot of money to send a terror wave, an investigator said.

Source: Xinhua