Bangladesh Attackers Sought After Blasts

By JULHAS ALAM
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 30, 2005; 4:29 AM

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh police on Wednesday hunted members of a militant group accused in suicide bomb attacks at courthouses in two cities that killed 10 people and injured 66. Police arrested seven suspects allegedly assigned to carry out similar attacks.

Police blamed the outlawed Islamic militant group Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh for Tuesday's attacks in the port city of Chittagong and in Gazipur, a town outside the capital, Dhaka.

The group, which wants to establish harsh Islamic laws in Bangladesh, has been accused of targeting judges and lawyers in a series of bomb attacks this year.

No arrests have been made in Chittgaong or Gazipur since the attack, but police detained seven people suspected of belonging to the banned group in four other districts.

Police say the banned group has trained hundreds of its members as suicide bombers, including some who received instructions in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia called the bombers "enemies of the nation, Islam and democracy" and branded them "terrorists and murderers," vowing to crush them, state-run Bangladesh Television reported Tuesday.

Three bombs went off just outside the Chittagong courthouse, killing a suspected suicide bomber and two police officers, police official Mosharraf Hossain said.

Sixteen people _ including a second suspected bomber _ were injured in the Chittagong blasts, said Habibur Rahman, a doctor at state-run Chittagong Medical College Hospital, 135 miles southeast of Dhaka.

In Gazipur, three people _ including the alleged bomber _ were killed instantly when a powerful bomb went off inside the Bar Library near a courthouse, said area police chief Atiqul Islam. Four others, including two lawyers, later succumbed to their injuries, officials and news reports said.

The explosion at Gazipur, 20 miles north of Dhaka, injured at least 50 people, Islam said.

© 2005 The Associated Press