B'desh on bomb alert ahead of anniversary

DHAKA, Monday (Reuters) - Security forces went on special alert in the Bangladesh capital on Sunday after a bomb blast near the city's diplomatic area wounded two people, police said.

Armed police and commandos of the elite Rapid Action Battalion cordoned off the area and searched vehicles and pedestrians following Saturday night's blast.

Police said that although the bomb was small, it was "a chilling reminder" that the perpetrators of a wave of recent bomb attacks were still active.

They said security forces found a bomb in the industrial town of Narsingdi, 80 km (50 miles) east of Dhaka, and two other bombs at Narayanganj near the capital on Sunday.

"Bombs are strewn all over the country and often we have to run right and left to recover them following tip-offs," a police officer said.

On Sunday evening, police said they had detained three suspected members of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen militant group in the southeast of the country and seized a large amount of bomb making materials from them.

"Explosives and other materials that we seized from them would be enough to make 300 small and medium powerful bombs," said Golam Rasul, superintendent of police in Cox's Bazar.

Police said they were taking extra precautions as Bangladesh prepared to celebrate the 34th anniversary of its 1971 independence war victory against Pakistan on Dec. 16.