DHAKA, Sept 15: Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies have accused an outlawed charity of having trained militants in the manufacture and use of bombs. In separate reports to the home ministry, two intelligence outfits complained that the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation had trained about 500 militants of Jamaatul Mujahideen in the manufacture and use of bombs at an isolated place in Gazipur, near Dhaka.

The agencies claimed that while investigating an orphanage belonging to the organization after the Aug 17 chain bombings across the country, they found evidence of training and use of explosives in the soil around the centre.

The reports alleged that a Sudanese national was running the centre inside a forest near a village called Pangshail. The intelligence reports also alleged that the head of the centre, who is married to a Bangladeshi girl, stayed in the village till the day of the chain bombings.