Author:
Publication: Reuters
Date: December 9, 2005
URL: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2005-12-09T105645Z_01_WRI919487_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-BANGLADESH.xml
A banned Islamist militant group blamed for
a series of bombings in Bangladesh has threatened to kill women, including
non-Muslims, if they do not wear the veil, a statement said.
The statement by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
came hours after Thursday's suicide bomb attack in a northern town that killed
at least eight people, the latest of a series of blasts blamed on militant
groups in their campaign for an Islamic state.
"Women will be killed if they are found
to move around without wearing burqa (veil) from the first day of Jilhaj,"
the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen said in the statement sent to a Dhaka newspaper office.
Jilhaj refers to the Arabic month beginning
early January.
"Women, including non-Muslims, are hereby
advised not to go out of home without burqa. Seclusion has been made compulsory
for you," said the statement in Bangla language, a copy of which was
obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The group, which wants the introduction of
sharia laws in mainly-Muslim Bangladesh, also ordered women students at Dhaka
University not to step out after sunset, prompting police to increase security
around the campus.
Earlier, a police officer said 30 suspected
members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and another outlawed group, Jagrata Muslim
Janata Bangladesh, were arrested for involvement in a wave of bomb attacks
that have rattled the impoverished nation this year.
A dozen bombs were seized in raids across
the country, the official said, as police hunted for the leaders of the two
outlawed groups.
Two bombs exploded on a crowded street in
the northern town of Netrokona on Thursday, killing eight people and wounding
50, many on their way to work.
A suicide bomber was believed to be among
the dead, while another was found wounded with an unexploded bomb strapped
to his body.
"These bombers are enemies of Islam and
must be stopped," said an official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
adding the government had asked clerics to spread the message from the nation's
250,000 mosques.
Thursday's deaths took the number of people
killed by suspected suicide bombers to 28 in three weeks, including judges,
lawyers and policemen. At least 150 people have been wounded.
Bangladesh is the world's third-most-populous
Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan.
State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman
Babar said last month that Islamists had formed a 2,000-strong suicide squad
to press home their demands.
(Additional reporting by Nizam Ahmed)
