The other 27 arrestees are at Barguna Jail.

The six include Maulana Waliullah, Imam of Barguna police line mosque, Maulana Mustafa Hassan, a teacher at Tiakhali Halta Madrasa in Barguna, Asadul Islam, a student of Barguna Government College, Alamin, Masum Billah and Abdur Rahman, students of Barguna Alia Madrasa.

Waliullah was identified as chief regional coordinator and Mustafa Hassan as local coordinator of the group.

Police sources said all the 33 arrestees identified themselves as members of Islamic Mujahid Party (IMP). A list of 50 cadres with secret code numbers was recovered from them. The arrestees mostly gave wrong or partial address.

Syed Shafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Barguna Sadar Police Station, said it was yet to be confirmed if the arrestees are linked to the JMJB of Bangla Bhai or any other militant organisation.

Sources in security agencies seeking anonymity however said they have sufficient evidences of the arrestees' links to the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Among the arrestees, Masumbillah was identified as Jamaat-backed Islami Chhatra Shibir, Salauddin is younger brother of a district Jamaat leader, Saidul Islam is son of the district Jamaat chief and Shahidul Islam is a brother of district BNP leader Fariduddin Forkan, and is involved with Jamaat politics, they mentioned.

People of remote Shialia area under Barguna Sadar Upazila caught the 33 cadres from local Ahmed Master Bari Mosque and handed them over to police on Wednesday. They were taking arms training.

Jasimuddin of Shialia, a madrasa teacher at Mohammadpur in Dhaka, is also believed to have links to the group.

Meanwhile, security sources also reported on June 17 similar training programmes of Islamic militants at Hafezia Madrasa at Barguna. This led to an abrupt stop of the programme and the Madrasa authorities denied any connection with it.