Chemical containers found in Bangladesh militant hideout

Dhaka, April 22

Police in Bangladesh on Saturday found at least 17 large containers of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used to make bombs, from a suspected militant hideout in Jhenaidah district.

The recovery was made after members of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit resumed their operation for the second day at a house used by the suspected Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants in the morning, The Daily Star reported.

"Around 10 am, police moved to the house. Some of the bombs have been already disposed. As many as 14 containers filled with liquid have been found. The 30-litre containers are marked Hydrogen peroxide," a senior police official told bdnews24.

However, police on Friday claimed that the suspected militants already fled the spot before the CTTC began the operation.

The CTTC members also claimed to have recovered a huge stash of explosives and a 9mm pistol from the house.

The explosives include three suicide vests, a pressure cooker bomb, around 20 plastic containers of bomb-making chemicals and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and detonators.

Last month, CTTC officials busted five hideouts of Neo-JMB, two in Chittagong, one in Sylhet and two in Moulvibazar, reports The Daily Star.

In those incidents, 19 people, including five children and five women, were killed.

According to police, 16 of them were killed in suicide blasts.

—IANS