The arrestees are Masud Rana, 22, Mintu Miah, 20, Mobarak Ali, 21, Shohag Miah, 17, Selim Miah, 20, Sakhawat Hossain Sumon, 20, Swapan Miah, 19, Nasirul Islam Nahid, 19, Shamsul Arefin Shohel, 18, and Abdur Rouf of Purbashuri and Nazrul Islam, 19 and Saiful Islam, 21, of Nabinagar, and Abu Hanif, 20, of Boira Paranpur in Sadar upazila.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Sherpur police led by Officer-in-charge (OC) Sajjad Hossain raided village Purbashuri around Monday midnight and arrested 10 JMB cadres from there, police sources in Sherpur said. Later on, they arrested three more JMB cadres raiding Nabinagar and Boira Paranpur.

The arrestees told police during interrogation that they wanted to establish Allah's rule in the country under the leadership of Matin Mehdi of Gaibandha, sources said. Matin is an absconding JMB leader convicted in one of the August 17, 2005 serial bomb blasts case in Gaibandha and another bomb blast case in Jhenidah, they added.

The arrestees are being interrogated at Sherpur Police Station as of yesterday evening.

On contact, OC Sajjad Hossain of Sherpur Police Station told The Daily Star that the arrestees are active cadres of JMB and were regrouping under the banner of a yet to be named militant organisation. The law enforcers are conducting drives in different areas to bust other dens of the militants, the OC added.

They were arrested following information gleaned from militants arrested at Tangail town on Saturday, police sources said.

They said the names of the militants are in the "JMB activists' list" which they prepared after the countrywide serial bomb attacks on August 17, 2005.