Key figure among seven militants seized in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Wednesday (Reuters) Police in Bangladesh said on Wednesdeay that they had captured seven militants, including the top adviser to an outlawed Islamist group, and seized explosives over the past two days.

Lutfur Rahman, a college teacher and close associate of Bangla Bhai, chief of the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), was detained in the northern Bagmara area on Monday. Police said Rahman was the principal adviser to JMJB, which the government banned in February along with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen for criminal activities.

The government said Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was mainly responsible for the wave of suicide bombings that have killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 since Aug. 17.

On Tuesday police detained three Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen members and seized 10 kg (22 pounds) of explosives from them at Narayanganj, 18 km (12 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.

Police said they have detained nearly 800 suspects, mostly Jamaat-ul-mujahideen activists, over the past four months. But Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen leader Shayek Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai are both still at large.