They are Al-Amin, arrested from Kathal Toli in Mirjaganj upazila in Patuakhali district and Mujibut Rahman, held from Daulatpur in Khulna.

Our Patuakhali Correspondent reports: JMB suicide squad member and its 'regional leader' in Barisal Al-Amin alias Abdullah in his statement in a Magistrate court here said he was involved with Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of ruling coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami.

It was gathered from other sources that he was president of Islami Chatra Shibir in Goalmari union in Daudkandi upazila in Comilla district, where he was a madrasa student in 1995-1996.

Latter on he went to Saudi Arabia and then to Afghanistan and joined the war. He returned home in 2004 and became involved with JMB.

Al-Amin, 28, gave the statement on Thursday under Section 164. In the statement he also confessed to his involvement in the August 17 bomb blasts in Patuakhali.

He organised several training centres in Patuakhali and Barguna, recruited youths and trained them in use of arms. He also told the court that he took part in the Afghan war, according to sources in police and court.

Al-Amin was arrested on December 4 from Kathal Toli health sub-centre. The court placed him on 11 days remand in two terms. He was also sent to the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka for quizzing during the remand.

He told to the court that 11 out of 22 JMB leaders in Barisal region are from Barguna and that only two of them have so far been arrested. Another JMB arrestee is Mostafa Hasan of Islampur village in barguna Aadar upazila. Al-Amin is also from the same village.

The rest nine yet-to-be-arrested JMB cadres in Barguna are Shahidul of Bayalpur village, Rezaul Karim (1) and Rezaul Karim (2) of Sonakhali, Tanvir alias Mehdi and Asadul Arif of Islampur, Abdul Haq Abbasi, Abdur Rahman, Masum Billah of Patharghala and Fazlul Haq of Char Maitha village, all in the Sadar upazila.

Abbas, Masum and Asadul are also members of JMB suicide squad, the sources said quoting from Al-Amin's statement.

Of the rest 11 in Barisal region, four are in Patuakhali, two each in Barisal, Bhola and Pirojpur and one in Jhalokathi, Al-Amin said.

Barguna police arrested Al-Amin and 32 others from a mosque at Bayalpur village in June in 2004. Am-Amin latter got bail from court. After release, he organised a training centre at a Hafizee Madrasa at Bayalpur village. He also organised such training centres in different places in Patuakhali and Barguna districts.

Al-Amin was selected as 'chief' of JMB in those two districts, he added.

Some people in Islampur village said Al-Amin, son of Abdul Khaleq, passed Alim and Fazil examinations from a madrasa in Goalmari village in Daudkandi upazila in Cmilla district.

Our Staff Correspondent reports from Khulna: JMB cadre Mujibur Rahman confessed during interrogation on Thursday that he was an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami, police said yesterday. He was arrested by Detective Branch (DB) police on the night of August 17 from Pabla area in Daulatpur.

Some booklets on Islamic militancy were also recovered from his possession. He was shown arrested in two separate cases filed with Khulna and Daulatpur police stations in connection with the August 17 serial bomb blasts.

But the arrested JMB cadre was left out of the chargesheets submitted to court in October.

Police said the arrested JMB cadre admitted that he is deeply involved in Jamaat politics but could not be named in the chargesheets due to lack of evidence.

Mujibur Rahman, 31, now in Khulna District Jail, is the son of Sohrab Jan Molla of Harhikhali village in Terokhada upazila in Khulna.

Another Islamist militant--Abul Kalam Azad-- arrested from Khalishpur in Khulna city in October has also been left out of the chargsheet submitted to court on November 28 in connection with the August 17 blasts though nine others were named. Police said Abul Kalam Azad told them during interrogation that he was an activist of Islami Shasantantra Andalon.