dhaka
dhakaReuters

Four militants of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group, including its regional head were arrested today in connection with the recent Islamist attack on a cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people were killed, mostly foreigners.

The Rapid Action Battalion raided an apartment in Gazipur's Tongi, used by the banned group on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka on Thursday. Ammunition, weapons, bomb-making materials and jihadi books were recovered during the raid. The four arrested were identified as Mahmudul Hassan Tanvir ( suspected ringleader), Ashiqul Akbar Abesh, Najmus Shakib and Rahmatullah Shuvo.

"They will be interrogated intensively to understand if they had any connection with the cafe attack," Mizanur Rahman Bhuiya, Battalion spokesman told Reuters.

The Battalion's media wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said these four had taken shelter in the house before Eid and that the house was used for training recruits. Eight bombs and bomb-making material, a pistol, a magazine, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, eight machetes and some jihadi literature have been seized from the house according to a report by The Hindu.

Bangladesh has been organizing regular crackdowns to curb presence of militants since the July 1 attack on Dhaka's Holey Artisan Bakery that killed 22 people. The six militants responsible for the attack were subsequently killed.

Even though the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, Bangladesh government denied their claim and said that home-grown militants were responsible for the attack.