Police have arrested five suspected members of the new extremist outfit Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in Dhaka.
The militants, identified as Md Abdullah, 22, Md Tambul Islam, 33, Md Ziauddin, 37, Md Habibullah, 19, and Mahmudul Hasan, 18, were apprehended in the capital's Demra on Wednesday, according to Md Asaduzzaman, chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit.
The arrests came amid rising security concerns stemming from a reported nexus between the Islamist militants and tribal separatists in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, reports bdnews24.com.
The motives and objectives of the organisation, formed by former members of banned militant outfits, can be determined after arresting its leader, Shamim Mahfuz, Asaduzzaman said at a media briefing on Thursday.
The militant outfit was discovered by law enforcement in the course of an investigation into the whereabouts of seven missing college students in Dhaka and Cumilla in August.
The Rapid Action Battalion subsequently arrested a dozen suspected Islamist militants, including several runaway youths, belonging to Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
Citing the arrestees, the RAB also said dozens of runaway youths were being trained in the hill tracts by an armed insurgency group, Kuki-Chin National Front.