DHAKA — The leader of the military wing of a banned militant group in Bangladesh was killed when a grenade exploded while he was in police custody early on Tuesday, hours after he was arrested in possession of weapons, police said. Mohammad Javed, the 26-year-old chief of the military wing of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen, was arrested on Monday night along with four other members of the group in the port city of Chittagong. Senior police official Babul Akter said Javed was killed while he was helping police recover more weapons in Chittagong. “The grenade exploded when the team was trying to recover it from a drain,” Akter said. Two policemen suffered minor wounds, he added. Bangladesh has been convulsed by rising militancy over the past year in which four online critics of religious militancy were hacked to death, a US citizen among them. Attacks on foreigners are rare in Bangladesh. Police said nine hand grenades, 120 rounds of ammunition, pistols, knives and a large quantity of bomb-making materials were seized in Monday's raid. — Reuters
