JMB Sherpur thana commander Ashraful Islam alias Abbas alias Arafat was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) near Bogra bus terminal on Friday.

During interrogation, he confessed to being a JMB commander of Sherpur.

On his disclosure, Rab arrested Abdul Mannan, former JMB commander of Mymensingh and Chittagong districts from Shohagi Para village of Nandigram upazila and recovered a huge quantity of bomb manufacturing materials.

Following Ashraful's arrest, Nilphamari police hoped to unearth the mystery of August 17 bomb attacks as he is No 1 suspect in the case.

Son of late Alhaj Hazrat Maulana Abdullah Khan Salafi, Ashraful hails from Shukhdhan village in Tupamari union of Sadar upazila in Nilphamari. Ashraful joined JMB in the middle of 2003 after failing in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination from Ramganj High School in Sadar upazila.

Local sources and police said he formed a militant group and conducted training in remote riverside areas in the district.

According to an intelligence source, his father Abdullah Khan Salafi was also a top ranking JMB leader.

Ashraful joined JMB to materialise the ideals of his late father. He became a close associate of JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai within a short period, sources said.