Bangladesh arrests 3,000 as PM vows to catch killers

Opposition parties accuse the police of using the crackdown to suppress political dissent

Police say they have detained more than 3,000 people as part of a crackdown following brutal killings.

Police in Bangladesh have arrested more than 3,000 people in a nationwide crackdown following a spate of violent attacks as the country's prime minister vowed to catch "each and every killer".

Over the the past 10 days, a Hindu monastery worker, an elderly Hindu priest, a Christian shopkeeper and the Muslim wife of a counterterrorism police officer have all been killed.


Secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions have also been targeted recently.
Those arrested include 37 suspected "Islamist militants" and hundreds of potential criminals who previously had warrants out against them, as well as several hundred ordinary arrests, Bangladeshi police said on Saturday.

"We have arrested 3,155 people ... as part of the special drive over the last 24 hours," A.K.M Shahidur Rahman, deputy police inspector general told the AFP news agency.

"The militants included 27 members of Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh," he added, referring to one one of the main domestic outlawed groups blamed partly for the attacks by the Bangladeshi government.

None of those arrested as part of the crackdown is believed to be "a high-level operator" who might have organised or ordered attacks, police told the Associated Press news agency.

 All the detainees are being held in jail. The sweeping crackdown came as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to hunt down the killers.