Bangladesh court indicts 4 suspected Islamic State operatives

A Bangladeshi court has indicted a suspected "coordinator" of the local branch of the Islamic State (IS) terror group and three other of its members, a media report said on Tuesday.

Those indicted on Monday under the Anti Terrorism Act are IS "coordinator" Shakhawatul Kabir, and three suspected members Anowar Hossain Baten, Rabiul Islam and Nazrul Islam. All except Kabir denied the charges and sought acquittal, but Dhaka's Fourth Additional Sessions Court rejected their appeal, prosecutor Bashiruddin Mian said adding the court fixed February 25 for witness deposition.

Police pressed charges in court against the accused on May 15, describing Kabir as the "coordinator of the Bangladesh chapter" of the Middle East-based IS terror outfit, news portal bdnews24.com reported. They were accused in a case registered under the Anti Terrorism Act on January 18.

The four were arrested in January when banned militant outfit JMB 'regional coordinator' Kabir was holding a meeting to recruit members for the IS, as per the group's directives. Police said they had seized a large number of IS leaflets and a laptop containing several videos from them.