The Lashkar-e-Taiyeba (LeT) sent a huge amount to Mufti Harun's accounts for carrying out attack on US Embassy in Dhaka, officials interrogating three LeT leaders arrested from Chittagong said. The officials said, Pakistani national Abdur Rahman, who was detained in Pakistan this week for links with militancy, had transferred Tk 600,000 to the account of Mufti Harun's brother Faizullah for this attack.

Faizullah was to have carried out the attack on US Embassy on Dhaka. Last week he went around the US Embassy in Dhaka and he discussed over cell phone how to carry out the attack, the officials added. The three suspected Lashkar-e-Taiyeba (LeT) leaders, arrested from Chittagong on Wednesday last in connection with a plot to attack the US Embassy in Dhaka, were taken on two-day police remand yesterday.

Detective Branch (DB) of Police produced the three leaders of the banned outfit. They were identified as Mufti Harun Izahar, 33, son of Mufti Izaharul Islam who is the Amir (chief) of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote; Shahidul Islam, 26; and Al Amin alias Saiful, before the Court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate AGM Al Masud with a prayer for 10-day remand for grilling. The court, however, granted only two days' remand. The suspect militants had been picked up from Lalkhan Bazar Madrassa located on the top of a hill and founded by Mufti Izahar on Wednesday night and taken to Dhaka on Thursday night, police said.

The Islami Oikya Jote Izahar faction is an ally of the 'Mohajote' (Grand Alliance) led by the AL. Mufti Izaharul Islam, the Amir (chief) of the faction' told the New Nation that three detained persons are not Indian citizens. Mufti Harun Izahar is his son. Shahidul Islam, son of late Abdur Rahman, hails from Char Syed Bhakuri village of Iswarganj in Mymensingh. Police said Shahidul Islam is an Indian citizen and has connection with LeT but his family sources said he is not an Indian citizen. Al Amin alias Saiful hails from Bhola, the sources said. Mufti Izahar claimed that the action was to tarnish the image of its madrasah.

DB sub-inspector Giasuddin, also the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, in his remand petition said that in the primary questioning the detained persons admitted they were preparing to attack the US Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka. The IO mentioned in the petition that police needed 10 days to interrogate them to extract more important information about the plot and their patrons.

Deputy Police Commissioner of DB Monirul Islam told the newsmen that the three suspected militants were planning to attack the US embassy and other American targets in the country's capital. DB had given intelligence reports concerning the men's whereabouts following the arrest of two other suspected militants in the United States last month. DB sources said the arrested men had made several calls from their mobile phones to some Pakistani militant leaders. We believe they have links to the banned (Islamist) group Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were planning to attack American interests in Dhaka, DB sources said. The three militants have reportedly worked also for Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), another Islamist outfit banned in Bangladesh.

-New Nation