Bangladesh security forces arrested on Friday an outlawed militant group's explosives expert and his wife, who set off a bomb in an effort to protect her husband during the raid on their home, a senior security official said. Jahidur Rahman, alias “Boma Mizan”, is a senior member of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Rezanur Rahman Khan, assistant director general of the Rapid Action Battalion elite force, told reporters. Jahidur was captured unhurt in the early morning Dhaka raid, but his wife Sharmin was injured in the blast. The RAB recovered one pistol, two bombs, two grenades, several rounds of ammunition and bomb-making materials from their house. The bomb blew much of Sharmin's right hand off and hurt their two children. Security forces carried out a second raid on what they said was another JMB den in the city, used to make bombs, train militants and store explosives. “We have found a huge quantity of bomb-making ingredients and other materials including detonator, grenade casing, fuse, plastic explosives and chemicals in the camp in the city's Mirpur residential area,” RAB Chief Hassan Mahmood Khandker told reporters.Equipment and chemicals for making mines were also found. “This is the first time we have found mine-making materials from a militants' den,” said another RAB official. JMB was also blamed for a series of deadly bombings in late 2005. A court in the port city Chittagong tried Jahidur in absentia last year for a bomb attack on a judge in 2005. Police said the JMB had drafted many women and trained them as bomb squad operators as the group planned to boost activities. Law enforcement agencies have detained hundreds of JMB and other militants over the past two years, and put many on trial. Some were involved in an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina, now prime minister, in 2004, police said. The militants have been on the back foot since the top six JMB commanders including Shayek Abdur Rahman were tried and executed in 2007, but intelligence officials have said they are regrouping and may strike again. Jahidur was a close associate of Shayek, police said.
