British Islamic State recruiter arrested

A British man has been arrested in Bangladesh on suspicion of recruiting people to fight alongside Islamic State militants in Syria, Sky News reports.

Samiun Rahman, who is from London, arrived in the country in February to find fighters for both IS and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, according to Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division.

“He has plans to recruit and send a team from Bangladesh to fight in Syria,” Commissioner Monirul said.

Rahman, whose parents are from a town northeast of the capital Dhaka, has confessed to trying to recruit fighters for the groups, police said, although it is not clear if his efforts were successful.

He told police he had joined the Nusra Front in Syria last September and fought with the group until December 2013.

Police say Rahman returned to Britain at some point and visited other countries to recruit jihadis before going to Bangladesh to do the same.

IS has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months, and fighting is reportedly continuing around the capital, Baghdad.

An explosion at a makeshift IS hospital has killed at least three fighters in Baquba, Diyala province on Monday, according to Sky sources.

There has also been intense fighting between Kurdish rebels and IS militants close to the Turkish border.

The US has been conducting airstrikes in Iraq since last month in a bid to reverse IS gains, and recently expanded their campaign to neighbouring Syria.

Britain joined the mission last week when MPs approved military action against the Islamists in Iraq.

Although RAF Tornados have flown a number of missions over northern Iraq since then, they have yet to fire any missiles.

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British Islamic State recruiter arrested