Bomb cache found in Dhaka

Eight people including two women were arrested from the two raids, on suspicion of making the bombs and of links to the August 17 countrywide explosions of some 500 small bombs that killed two people and wounded about 100.

A police officer said Shayek Ataur Rahman, brother of Shayek Abdur Rahman (commander of the militant Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group blamed for the serial blasts), was in the area where the raids were carried out, but he escaped.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, which were apparently aimed more at creating panic than taking lives. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen leaflets found at most bomb sites called for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh.

State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar, said he believed the Leftist radical group Janajuddha was also involved.