Dhaka, June 13 (IANS): Over 8,000 people were arrested within three days of Bangladesh's on-going week-long anti-militant drive, police said on Monday.

"At least 3,245 people were arrested on the third day of the drive," a Bangladeshi police spokesman said.

The police earlier detained 5,324 people in the first 48 hours of the clampdown against militants, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 119 among the total arrested were suspected militants, most of them members of the banned militant outfit Jama'at ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombings in the country.

Another police official said the clampdown aimed at dismantling terrorist outfits and their networks in the country.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a surge in violent attacks in recent years.

A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers have been killed or seriously injured in attacks carried out by extremists since 2013.

In most of the cases, the attacks were carried out by motorcycle-borne assailants.

A day after the wife of a top Bangladeshi police officer was shot dead by suspected militants in the country's seaport city of Chittagong, 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs in a bid to curb militant attacks banned motorcyclists from carrying more than one pillion-rider.