Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested Iqbal Hossain alias Jahangir alias Selim, a fugitive sentenced to life in prison in connection with the gruesome August 21 grenade attack case, from the capital.
He was arrested in a drive carried out in Dhaka’s Diabari in the early hours of Tuesday.
RAB Director General (DG) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun confirmed the matter at a press briefing held at the RAB Media Centre in Karwan Bazar this afternoon.
During interrogation, Iqbal confessed to the elite force that he hurled grenade at the Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, said the RAB DG.
Iqbal had been in hiding ever since, the RAB DG added.
On August 21, 2004, the grisly grenade attack was carried out on an anti-terrorism rally arranged by Awami League at Bangabandhu Avenue during the BNP-Jamaat alliance's rule, aiming to kill then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina.
At least 24 leaders and activists, including AL's women affairs secretary and late President Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman, were killed and 300 others injured in the grenade attack.
Although Sheikh Hasina fortunately escaped the attack unhurt, her hearing was affected badly.
A Dhaka court on October 10, 2018 sentenced 19 people, including the then BNP-led government’s state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar to death. Tarique Rahman, eldest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, and 18 others were also sentenced to life in prison.
