Dhaka police seize bombs in house raid

Police have seized about 200 small bombs, some explosives and dozens of detonators during a raid on a house in Bangladesh’s capital, officials said today.

A man and a woman were arrested during the raid late yesterday in the eastern South Goran district of Dhaka, police officials said.

Books and leaflets about jihad, or holy war, were also found in the house, the officials said.

Police went to the house after neighbours reported hearing an explosion, the officials said, adding that no one was injured in the apparently accidental blast.

Police were investigating whether the two suspects had anything to do with a string of bombings on August 17 in which more than 430 small homemade bombs went off across Bangladesh within an hour.

Authorities said more than 300 people had been detained and questioned about the attacks, which left two people dead and about 125 injured.

Many of those arrested were suspected members of a banned Islamic group, Jumatul Mujahedin, that wants to establish harsh Islamic rule in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is governed by secular laws.