Bangladesh Police Arrests Over 11,000 in Crackdown on Extremists

The majority of those arrested have petty criminal records. More arrests are expected through this week.

A member of Bangladeshi bomb disposal unit carries seized homemade bombs during a raid on a building where members of a banned Islamist group were detained in Mirpur area, Dhaka. (Photo: AP)

Security forces in Bangladesh have arrested 11,307 people, including over 100 suspected Islamists, as they continue a nationwide crackdown following a spate of killings of secularists and minorities in the country.

“As many as 3,115 more people were arrested on the fourth day of the drive,” said a senior police official.

In the first 72 hours of the crackdown, police officials had detained 8,192 people, including 119 suspected militants.

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The crackdown began four days after the wife of a police superintendent who led drives against Islamist militants and drug cartels was shot and stabbed to death in the southeastern city of Chittagong.

Days after that attack, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to root out radicals and defeat their bid to establish Islamic rule in the country.

Authorities have arrested suspects in some of the 18 attacks, mostly low-level operatives accused of following orders to carry out attacks, but none have been prosecuted. Police have said they are waiting until investigations are complete before taking any suspects to court.

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Bangladeshi policemen stand guard outside the Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday. (Photo: AP)

Almost all the attacks have been claimed by transnational Islamist extremist groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates.

Hasina’s government, however, said that transnational terror groups have no presence in the South Asian nation of 160 million.

It blamed the attacks on domestic groups aligned with political opposition parties, though it has presented no evidence of such a campaign and the opposition denies the allegations.

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Relatives wait to meet prisoners outside the Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday. (Photo: AP)

At least 18 people, including atheist bloggers, foreign aid workers and religious minorities, have been killed in attacks over the last two years.

In separate incidents last week, two Hindus were fatally attacked. The attacks have alarmed the international community and raised questions about whether Bangladesh’s secular government can protect minorities and secular writers and intellectuals in the Muslim-majority nation.