Bangladesh police find arms cache after militants blow themselves up

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh police said on Monday they had found a big cache of weapons and explosives in a militant hideout they raided after two militants blew themselves up there by accident. The two suspected members of banned group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh were killed while they were making bombs in Bogra in northern Bangladesh, police said. Police said they found 20 homemade live grenades and bomb-making ingredients in the hideout after the blast, which alerted neighbors. Bomb disposal experts defused them. "The evidence indicates that with these powerful explosives they were planing to destroy important installations in the country," said Mohammad Asaduzzaman, the chief of Bogra district police. Bangladesh has experienced a wave of militant violence in recent months, including a series of bomb attacks on mosques and Hindu temples. Some recent attacks have been claimed by Islamic State, including the killing of Hindu priest, a Japanese citizen, an Italian aid worker and a policeman. The government denies that Islamic State has a presence in the Muslim-majority country of 160 million people. (Reporting by Serajul Quadir and Hasibur Rahman Bilu; editing by Andrew Roche)