Dhaka  - The wife and daughter of executed Islamic militant chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman have been freed on bail from a provincial jail in north-eastern Bangladesh, local officials said Wednesday.

The two women were held in prison since the founder of the outlawed Jamiatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was sent to the gallows last year along with two of his deputies.

Authorities in Sylhet province said Nurjahan Rupa and her daughter Arifa were released after bail bonds were posted for them.

Rahman and two other JMB leaders were executed in March 2007 for masterminding a fatal bomb attack against two judges in the southern town of Jalokhati.

On August 28, a bench of the High Court in the capital Dhaka granted bail for both women for six months, ruling that police had failed to collect enough evidence against them to warrant their indefinite detention.

The JMB militants made international news after carrying out orchestrated bombings in more than 60 locations across the country in 2005. (dpa)