Shocked villagers lifted the sliced body of Khejur Ali, hands and legs tied, in the presence of a magistrate at 11:00am, as an overpowering stench filled the morning air.

His sister Sultana Selima Akhter identified the body that bore multiple marks of torture in captivity that replays the scene of another alleged outlaw bludgeoned to death by Islamic militants on May 20.

Yesterday's find a few yards off the vigilante camp in Raninagar in the northwestern district is the latest among 25 people the JMJB abducted from Naogaon, Rajshahi and Bogra in its so-called anti-outlaw operation since April 1. The villagers feared the operatives killed them and secreted their bodies underground.

A source close to the group said at least seven of the 25 people with suspected ties to the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) were buried near a JMJB camp at Hamir Kutsa in Rajshahi.

On the killing of Khejur, Deputy Inspector General Noor Muhammad said a case was filed against unnamed JMJB operatives.

The JMJB men picked up Khejur along with Badshah and Bashar from Simba village in Raninagar and Ala from Sharia village in Atrai in Naogaon on May 19 in apparent backlash two days after the PBCP men killed two JMJB cadres.

The militant outfit members announced by loudspeaker on the night of May 19 that they would slaughter the four in public the next day.

Badshah, beaten dead with bamboo poles and hockey sticks, was found hanging from a roadside tree in Nandigram in Bogra, not far away from Naogaon. Ala, blamed for his role in a string of killings, was learnt to be alive, while Bashar was rescued seriously wounded on May 21.

SOUTHWEST-BOUND JMJB

Sources said Bangla Bhai, dreaded operations commander of the JMJB, asked his followers to fan out Khulna and Bagerhat, two bastions of Jamaat-e-Islami, a ruling coalition partner, and prepare for an outlaw cleansing operation.

A special branch official linked Bangla Bhai's men to Jamaatul Mujahedin, another Islamist outfit with its stronghold in Mollahat and Morrelganj in Bagerhat.

Asked, Jamaat legislator from Khulna-5 constituency Mia Golam Parwar said his party has no connection with Jamaatul Mujahedin and the so-called movement of Bangla Bhai.

Intelligence agencies have been put on high alert in Khulna and Bagerhat to track down the followers of Bangla Bhai, who are operating in different guises especially in shrimp enclosures.

"We are on the alert for Bangla Bhai's Rajshahi-style operation here," a senior police officer in Bagerhat said.

TALE OF TORTURE

Villagers of Vitigram in Naogaon said the JMJB men forced girls and women into their camp at Siddiqia Fazil Madrasa and tortured them. The villagers declined to give further details on torture for security reasons.

JMJB men extorted over Tk 6 lakh in the last few days from areas close to their main camp in Raninagar. They also set up camps in Atrai with a promise to fight the outlaws but later turned to a campaign to establish an Islamic rule and began collecting tolls to raise a fund for it.

Bangla Bhai branded landowner Jagannath of Baragachha village in Raninagar as an outlaw and demanded money from him.

On refusal, his men pulled down the landlord's house and looted his property on Tuesday night to pay the fare for vehicles they used in their showdown in Rajshahi city last week.

Locals said the JMJB operatives demanded Tk 3,000 from Rafiqul of Kawragini village and tortured him at their camp, as he did not pay.

They snatched 11 motorbikes, 17 cellphones from Abadpukur area to use them for their organisation. They later returned three phones in exchange for money.

Top JMJB cadre Anwar who went missing several days ago was not found until yesterday. A source said the JMJB men might have killed him charging him with stashing away a video disc on Taliban training in Afghanistan to reporters.

NO TRUST IN POLICE

The JMJB men spread a reign of terror and killed at least 10 people in their two-month vigilante action in Atrai and Raninagar, but no-one wants to file a case.

Talking to The Daily Star, Raninagar and Atrai residents said they do not trust police to disclose JMJB torture. "They have played as JMJB's aiding force over the last two months," a local said, questioning the sincerity of police to arrest the JMJB operatives.

Although Bangla Bhai went into hiding on Tuesday night, his adherents are still on the prowl, working in 150 units in Atrai and Raninagar.

Some JMJB operatives were found guarding some villages, but police did not identify them as JMJB operatives.

A source says Bangla Bhai is now staying in the house of an influential political leader of Natore and controlling JMJB vigilante activities.

Talking to reporters Thursday, Naogaon Superintendent of Police Fazlur Rahman said: "Despite our frantic efforts over the last four days, we have failed to arrest Bangla Bhai. You (journalists) have many sources ... please let me know if you have any information about his whereabouts."

The Daily Star alerted the same police officer on May 19 to JMJB's announcement of slaughtering four outlaws, but he then dismissed the report as baseless.