Bangladesh arrests terror suspect

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Police in Bangladesh say they have arrested a man suspected of being a senior member of the Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The arrest brings to seven the number of men held in Bangladesh over the past month for suspected links to the group.

Police believe the other six men, three of them Indian and three Pakistani, were plotting attacks on the US and Indian embassies in Dhaka.

India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for attacks on its cities in recent years.

The latest man arrested was named as Abu Motaleb, a Bangladeshi national suspected of recruiting militants in Bangladesh and sending them to Pakistan for training.

Police say they think Abu Motaleb fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and is an expert in explosives.

Information about some of the suspects came from investigators in the US, following the arrests there last month of two men charged with plotting terror attacks abroad, the police say.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka says no-one has yet been charged in Bangladesh for alleged links to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

But our correspondent says the arrests will confirm fears in India that its eastern neighbour might be used as a base for groups planning attacks. The two countries share a long and porous border.