Police seized at least 10 grenades as well as firearms and bullets Monday from a home in a northern Bangladeshi village where an explosion left two suspected militants with fatal injuries.
Authorities suspect the home in the Sherpur area of Bogra district was occupied by members of a banned Islamist militant group called the Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, and that the bomb blast Sunday had been an accident, local police chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman said.
“We suspect that the home was being used as a den of making bombs by the JMB. We need more investigation,” he said.
Witnesses told police the explosion occurred inside the one-story building, but could not identify the two injured men, suggesting they were not locals. The two men were taken to a hospital, where they later died Sunday night.
He said the building’s landlord, who lives elsewhere, said a man who identified himself as an auto-rickshaw driver rented the home about five months ago. Police said they could not trace the man after Sunday’s blast.
On Monday, a 12-member bomb disposal unit began searching the house and recovered at least 10 grenades, two pistols and 20 bullets, Asaduzzaman said.
A wave of deadly attacks last year on foreigners, secular writers and members of the minority Shiite and Ahmadiya communities has raised concerned about security in Bangladesh. While the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, Bangladesh authorities dismissed those claims and instead have blamed local militant groups including JMB for the violence.
The government has insisted it has the security situation under control and has arrested several suspects.