CHITTAGONG: Newly appointed director general of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Benazir Ahmed on Saturday said prevailing ‘mass killing and use of petrol bombs’ had been instigating terrorism and religious extremism.

He was talking to journalists after detaining three extremists from Halishahar area of the port city on Saturday.

He further said ongoing petrol bomb attacks and mass killings were creating favourable conditions for extremists to thrive.

Earlier in the day, RAB members detained four terrorists, including a woman, and recovered 76 grenade-like bombs and huge explosives from Halishahar residential area.

A team of RAB, in a nightlong drive, rounded up them from a house of an USA expatriate and recovered huge amount of explosives from the first floor of the five-storey building of the area.

Lieutenant colonel Miftah Uddin Ahmed, director of RAB Chittagong Zone said they need to conduct further investigation to identify their organizational identity.

Benazir Ahmed also said they would unearth the local, regional and international networks of these terrorists, adding that they were trying to turn the country into Afghanistan.

BDST: 1814 HRS, FEB 28, 2015