DHAKA, Feb 21: Bangladesh police arrested four members of an underground Islamist group and 16 other militants in a crackdown on Saturday, an official said, a day after a suspected militant set off a grenade inside a police station wounding several people.

The suspected militant and three other members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were shown to journalists with weapons captured from them on Friday. Police, journalists and other people were wounded when the arrested suspect managed to set off one of the captured grenades in the Gazipur police station, 30km north of Dhaka.

Four other members of the group were arrested near the scene of the attack on Saturday.

The JMB has been waging a campaign for the introduction of Sharia in the country.

“We must forge national unity to fight Islamist terrorists in the country,” Interior Minister Sahara Khatun told a function. “Form local committees and cooperate with police by giving information about the movement of suspect people. Otherwise they won’t spare anyone.”

Earlier on Saturday, police in a nationwide crackdown arrested 10 other militants and seized three grenades, explosives and literature on militancy.

Six more militants were arrested in Dinajpur, Jamalpur and Nilphamari towns in the north of the country.—Reuters