Top Bangladeshi militant remanded

Bangla Bhai was badly wounded during his capture

A court in Bangladesh has remanded an Islamic militant leader to 10 days in police custody for questioning.

Siddiqul Islam, also known as Bangla Bhai, is to be interrogated over his alleged role in a wave of bombings last year that killed 30 people.

Islam has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in connection with a bomb attack that killed two judges last year.

Islam, a leader of the banned Jamaat-ul Mujahideen (JMB), was captured earlier this month in the city of Mymensingh.

On Tuesday, he made his first court appearance in the city.

His court appearance had been delayed because he was undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Dhaka, for wounds which he is said to have received during his capture.

A spokesman for the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, Col Gulzar Ahmed, said Islam had now been brought back to Dhaka following the court appearance, for interrogation by intelligence officials.

Sedition and murder charges

The capture of Siddiqul Islam followed the arrest of JMB leader Abdur Rahman, who surrendered to police in the north-eastern district of Sylhet just days earlier.

The JMB has been blamed for a number of bombings

Both men face sedition and murder charges and the BBC's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka says they could face death sentences if convicted.

In February, the two men were sentenced to 40 years in prison for masterminding the bomb attack which killed the judges last year.

Bangla Bhai came to prominence in 2004 when his group, Jagrata Muslim Janata (Vigilant Muslim Citizens), launched a reign of terror in the north of the country.

He and the local authorities allegedly fought Maoist rebels and imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law - forcing women to wear burqas (veils) and men to grow beards.

Last August, some 500 bombs were set off in all but one of Bangladesh's 64 districts in the space of an hour. Three people were killed and about 100 injured.

A number of subsequent bomb attacks, targeted judges and court rooms, have claimed more than 30 lives.

More than 100 cases have been filed against alleged members of the JMB in connection with the bombing campaign.

The militant group has been demanding the introduction of Sharia law in the country.