DHAKA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday arrested four members of a banned militant outfit along with huge amount of firearms and explosives.
RAB in a statement said the militants are the members of Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, blamed for the deadly attack on the Spanish cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan on July 1, 2016.
The arrests were made during raids in capital Dhaka and two adjoining districts, it said.
"From their possessions, RAB recovered explosives and bomb-making materials."
According to RAB, the militants belonged to the "Tamim Chowdhury-Sarwar Jahan group" of Neo-JMB.
Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian and Sarwar Jahan, identified as Neo JMB chief who was killed during a police raid on Oct. 8 last year, have been blamed as the masterminds of the brutal attack on the Spanish cafe that left 20 hostages including 18 foreigners dead.
JMB carried out a series of bombings in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.
Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007.
Against the backdrop of a new wave of militancy rising, Bangladesh stepped up drive aimed at dismantling all terrorist outfits and their networks in the country.
Bangladeshi police have reportedly hunted down and killed dozens of militants linked to the cafe attack, including Tamim Chowdhury who was killed in a police raid on Aug. 27 last year.
