A former minister of Bangladesh is among 27 others against whom a case was filed on charges of aiding and abetting a banned Islamic militant group in western Bangladesh, a day after six top leaders of the militant group were hanged by the government on Friday, local television reported Sunday.

Private television channel Bangla Vision said on Sunday morning that a torture victim of the banned Islamic militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), widely blamed for series of bombings and suicide attacks in Bangladesh, filed a case in western Rajshahi court accusing former Post and Telecommunications Minister Aminul Huq of the immediate past ruling party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and 27 others.

This is the first case against any of those former ministers and lawmakers widely alleged to have hands on the rise of the banned JMB.

Fazlur Rahman, who was abducted and maimed by JMB militants three years ago, filed the case on Friday night. Among the 27 others, four were BNP leaders.

Bangladesh's caretaker government in early hours on Friday hanged six top leaders of the JMB, including its chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman, and its second-in-command Bangla Bhai.

The JMB has been launching secret campaign to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. The JMB blasted around 500 bombs almost simultaneously across Bangladesh on Aug. 17, 2005. Some 50 people including judicial officers, lawyers and police were killed and hundreds injured during their violent campaign in 2005.

Hours after the top JMB leaders were hanged on Friday, top level officials of the caretaker government, which has declared a war against all odds in the country including corruption, hinted that it is now the turn of patrons and masterminds of Islamic militants to face trial.

"We have already tentatively identified the patrons and masterminds," Bangladeshi police chief Nur Mohammad told the private television channel ATN on Saturday.

The police chief said a process of filing cases against the patrons and collecting evidence and witnesses is going on. "Soon we will be able to bring them to book," he said.

Information and Law Advisor of the caretaker government Mainul Hosein said the patrons will face the same punishment if they are found guilty.

"The law enforcers are hunting the god fathers. If they are netted and we come to know about their role, they will face the same punishment," the advisor told private televisions on Saturday.

A report in the Bengali daily Ittefaq on Sunday said over 10, 000 JMB militants were on the run across the country. Of them 3, 000 JMB militants were women and members of the suicide squad.

Source: Xinhua