DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will bring thousands of unregistered Islamic schools under the education ministry to curb militancy, a government minister said on Wednesday.
The minister's statement came a week after security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives from the Green Crescent madrasa at a village near Bhola district town, 350 km (219 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.
Four militants were also arrested and a hunt to arrest their mentors was launched.
"We are surveying all the Qaumi (radical) madrasas to bring those under the education ministry, so that those institutions cannot be used for raising militancy," Law Minister Shahfique Ahmed told reporters.
Bangladesh has more than 15,000 Qaumi and some 9,000 Aliya (government-registered) madrasas with a total of more than six million students.
The number of madrasas grew by more than 22 percent in the last decade, education ministry officials said.
They said that in addition to Qaumi madrasas there are many others run by Islamic non-governmental organisations.
Police believe some militants involved in bombings the country experienced in recent years came from privately run Qaumi religious schools.
The outlawed Islamist militants -- who want mostly Muslim Bangladesh, an impoverished country of 140 million people, to become a sharia-based Islamic nation -- have killed scores of people in bomb attacks since the late 1990s.
"The records say Islamists militants were directly involved in all bomb attacks in the country and the bombers were raised in Qaumi madrasas," the law minister said.
The radical Islamist movement has been subdued since six top commanders were executed in 2007. But intelligence officials have said they were regrouping and might strike again.
Police seized large quantities of explosives, grenades and firearms after raiding suspected militant hideouts ahead of parliamentary elections in December.
(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Jerry Norton)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
The minister's statement came a week after security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives from the Green Crescent madrasa at a village near Bhola district town, 350 km (219 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.
Four militants were also arrested and a hunt to arrest their mentors was launched.
"We are surveying all the Qaumi (radical) madrasas to bring those under the education ministry, so that those institutions cannot be used for raising militancy," Law Minister Shahfique Ahmed told reporters.
Bangladesh has more than 15,000 Qaumi and some 9,000 Aliya (government-registered) madrasas with a total of more than six million students.
The number of madrasas grew by more than 22 percent in the last decade, education ministry officials said.
They said that in addition to Qaumi madrasas there are many others run by Islamic non-governmental organisations.
Police believe some militants involved in bombings the country experienced in recent years came from privately run Qaumi religious schools.
The outlawed Islamist militants -- who want mostly Muslim Bangladesh, an impoverished country of 140 million people, to become a sharia-based Islamic nation -- have killed scores of people in bomb attacks since the late 1990s.
"The records say Islamists militants were directly involved in all bomb attacks in the country and the bombers were raised in Qaumi madrasas," the law minister said.
The radical Islamist movement has been subdued since six top commanders were executed in 2007. But intelligence officials have said they were regrouping and might strike again.
Police seized large quantities of explosives, grenades and firearms after raiding suspected militant hideouts ahead of parliamentary elections in December.
(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Jerry Norton)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
