February 01, 2008	Friday	Muharram 22, 1429

DHAKA, Jan 31: A court in Bangladesh on Thursday jailed seven Islamic militants for life for carrying out blasts as part of nationwide bomb attacks that shock the country in 2005, police said.

Five of the seven militants from the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were present when the verdict was handed down in a crowded court in Rajshahi city, Police Inspector Mahbub Siddiqui said.

The other two are on the run and were tried in absentia.

“They were found guilty of carrying out five bomb blasts at Chapainawabganj town on Aug 17, 2005. One of the bombs was exploded at a court and injured three people,” he said.

Authorities say the JMB was behind 400 blasts in all but one of the country’s 64 districts.

The attacks were part of a campaign apparently aimed at forcing Bangladesh to replace its secular legal system, which dates from the British colonial period, with Islamic law.—AFP