On Thursday, Bangladesh marks the 18th anniversary of the series of bomb blasts in 63 districts of the country that left two people dead and over 50 others injured.
On this day in 2005, around 500 bombs went off at 434 locations in 63 districts. The banned militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was behind the mayhem.
Socio-cultural organisations and political parties will observe the anniversary of the nationwide blasts with a renewed call to keep militancy at bay.
According to police headquarters, some 159 cases were lodged at different police stations across the country in connection with the bombings.
Trials in 94 cases have already been completed in which 334 perps were sentenced to different jail terms.
A total of 349 accused in the blasts were acquitted of charges, it added.
Twenty-seven accused in the blasts had been handed down capital punishment and eight of them were hanged.
The JMB tried to demonstrate its existence by carrying out the blasts. But their organisational activities suffered a huge setback with the execution of JMB's top six leaders in 2007.
The six leaders — Shaikh Abdur Rahman, his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam aka Bangla Bhai, military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny, think-tank members Abdul Awal, Khaled Saifullah and Salahuddin — were hanged on March 30 in 2007 for killing two judges in Jhalakathi district.
