Staff Reporter :Police have arrested 2,132 people, including 48 suspected militants, during the last 24 hours till 6:00am on Sunday as week-long anti-militant combing operation continued across the country. With this a total of 5,320 criminal suspects, including 85 militants, have been detained since the drive kicked off to stop a growing wave of brutal attacks on minorities and rights activists, said police spokesman AKM Kamrul Ahsan. The arrested persons were mostly fugitives who are wanted in different criminal cases, including narcotic charges, he said. Earlier, 3,192 people, including 37 militant suspects, were held from several districts and the capital. The crackdown began four days after the wife of a police superintendent who led drives against Islamist militants and drug cartels was shot and stabbed to death in the southeastern city of Chittagong. Days after that attack, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to root out radicals in the country.Over 40 people died in three years in a series of attacks by militants targeting university professors, secular bloggers, rights activists, foreigner and members of religious minorities.Authorities have arrested suspects in some of the 18 attacks, mostly low-level operatives accused of following orders to carry out attacks, but none has been prosecuted. Police have said they are waiting until investigations are complete before taking any suspects to court.Almost all the attacks have been claimed by transnational Islamist extremist groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates. The killing on Friday of a Hindu ashram worker in northern Bangladesh was also claimed by IS, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity online.The government, however, says transnational terror groups have no presence in the country. It blames the attacks on domestic groups aligned with political opposition parties.
