The joint forces arrested 607 people across the country under 'Operation Devil Hunt' on what was the third day of the operation.

It brings the total arrested on the first three days of the operation till Tuesday afternoon to 2258, said sources at the police headquarters.

Some 1168 of the arrests till yesterday were in connection with different cases against them, it said.

343 arrested on second day of joint forces' 'Devil Hunt'

During the third day's operations, the joint forces also recovered arms and ammunition including two pistols, one LG, one shutter gun, one pipe gun, two magazines, two rounds of bullets, five cartridges, thirteen knives, two machetes, six sharp weapons, two axes, one saw, three hammers, two plus, two sticks and two wood machineries.

Earlier, the joint forces arrested 1,651 people on the first and 2nd day of the operation.

The government launched the nationwide security operation on Saturday night, ostensibly aiming "to curb unrest and ensure public safety". The context in which it came about, however, suggested a particular focus on supporters and activists of the Awami League, including its banned student front, the Chhatra League.

The operation was devised following Friday night's attack on students and civilians in Gazipur, a traditional den of the Awami League, where a group of students got ambushed when they attacked the residence of veteran AL leader, the ex-liberation war affairs minister and MP from Gazipur, Mozammel Huq.

Cadres maintained by him and another AL stalwart of the region, ex-mayor Zahangir Alom, are said to have planned and executed the ambush, that left the students' movement shaken, as more than a dozen student activists had to be brought to DMCH for treatment, bleeding profusely from injuries inflicted with sharp knives

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said on Sunday that the countrywide crackdown ‘Operation Devil Hunt’ would continue until the devils are eradicated.