'Militants trained their wives to be suicide bombers'

The three female suspects arrested during the raid in a “Neo JMB” hideout in Kushtia on Saturday  were trained up by militant leaders on using suicide vests, a high official of the district police, told The Daily Star.

Police identified the suspects as Tithi Khatun, 32, wife of the outfit's chief Ayub Bachchu, Sumaiya Akter, 26, wife of the outfit's second-in-command Abzar alias Rashed, and Toly Khatun, wife of Arman Ali of Thakurpur in Bheramara.

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During primary interrogation, the arrestees said that the outfit was now looking to survive safely rather than expanding their activities. Bachchu and Abzar, before shifting their family to the hideout eight days back, visited their “safe haven” at least twice in the last four months, police said.

In fact, Bachchu was present in the hideout a day before the operation was conducted.

A team from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit along with local police conducted the anti-militancy drive in Kushtia's Bheramara upazila.

Police also claimed to have recovered a bomb weighing around 3kg, two suicide vests with 10 small bombs attached, a pistol, 12 bullets and 10 kilograms of bomb-making materials in the raid.

Two cases were filed with Bheramara police station yesterday against the three suspects and their husbands for keeping explosives and attempting to attack the police, Nur Hossain Khondokar, officer-in-charge of Bheramara Police Station, told The Daily Star.

Police would produce the three female suspects before the court on Monday seeking remand, he said.

During the operation, Sumaiya, who reportedly received training on firearm use, tried to attack the police by exploding the suicide vests. She wore the vests and approached the police but was captured before she could set the bombs off. However, the two others did not attempt to commit suicide as they had children with them, police suspected.

Abdul Mannan, additional deputy commissioner of CTTC unit, said that they will extract some clues from the hideout and are hoping to get a trace of the absconding leaders using those.