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Bangladesh

‘Foreigners Involved in Bangladesh Blasts’

2006-04-03

Foreigners were involved in the Aug. 17 series of bombings in which two people were killed and over 200 injured, intelligence agencies said. The agencies have prepared a list of foreigners allegedly involved in the explosions. Most of the foreigners included in the list are from Pakistan and the Middle East. They include Maulana Nur Ahmed, Maulana Yasin, Hafiz Monir Hossain, Touhid Wahab, Mehbub Nur, Joynuddin Khan, Ahmed Abdullah, Ahmed Shah ibn Sharif, and Shah Nur-e-Islam. Intelligence sources claimed that six of the foreigners were certainly involved in the bombings. The foreigners had close ties with the banned outfit Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), sources said. The intelligence agencies are collecting more information about the foreigners. Ruling out JMB’s link with any international terror group, Inspector General of Police Abdul Quaiyum said the agencies had not been able to link JMB with any foreign terror group. That's my feeling, too. I'd guess JMB is closer in spirit to the Wazir Taliban than to al-Qaeda. HUJI is the local al-Qaeda affiliate, and we seldom hear anything about them.

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Bangladesh

Bangla Court Orders Militants’ Detention for Interrogation

2006-03-15

A Bangladesh court yesterday ordered detention for nine days of suspected militants for interrogation, sources said. The three suspects were arrested in two separate raids in an eastern town of Comilla, officials said. They are alleged members of Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, a banned group blamed for several deadly bombings across the country, Abu Sufian, a security official, said. The suspects were likely to be taken Dhaka for questioning by intelligence agents. Two of the militants were arrested Monday from their hideout in Comilla town, and another was captured later in a separate raid on a house that killed four people. Another suspect who was injured in the raid was being treated at a military hospital in Dhaka, about 88 km west of Comilla. On Monday, two bombs ripped through a hideout of suspected militants after security agents besieged a two-story building in Comilla, firing guns and tear gas shells to force a surrender. Agents later found the bullet-ridden body of a fugitive militant, who was an alleged bomb expert, on the ground floor of the house, said Lt. Col. Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, an intelligence official who led the operation. The mangled bodies of his wife and two children were found in a separate room. It wasn’t clear if the suspects detonated the bombs in a suicide attempt. The outlawed group has been blamed for a string of bombings across the country that killed 26 people last year. The group’s leader, Sheikh Abdur Rahman, and his deputy, Siddiqul Islam, were captured earlier this month. Also yesterday, security agents acting on a tip-off cordoned off a downtown area in southwestern Khulna city and searched door to door, attempting unsuccessfully to catch two top operatives of the militant group, said Lt. Col. Shamsul Huda, who led the operation.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Islamists, Maoists Behind Bomb Blasts: Minister

2005-09-05

Bangladesh’s security minister yesterday said two militant outfits were responsible for Aug. 17 serial blasts in which 2 people were killed and 100 others were injured, sources said. State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar disclosed that militants of outlawed Islamist outfit Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and ultra-left Maoist group Jana Juddha were responsible for the bombings. “Two evil forces of JMB and Jana Juddha have joined hands and primary investigations suggest that they were behind the Aug. 17 bomb blasts,” he told reporters in Dhaka. In reply to a question, Babar said since there is still apprehension of threat, law enforcers had been asked to remain on high alert to foil any such incident in future. He said militants at the grass-root and secondary levels were arrested for their links with the blasts. Security forces have arrested about 200 people over the wave of bombings and have tightened security amid concerns of more attacks, the minister said. “We don’t rule out chances of more attacks and so have been taking further measures to avert it,” Babar told reporters after meeting senior police and intelligence officials. Police said many of those arrested confessed to being members of Jamatul Mujahedeen and of being involved in the bombing attacks. “They have given information suggesting that not only Islamic militants but other terror groups were also involved in the bombings,” Babar said. “We are updating security everywhere, including plans to install close-circuit cameras at street corners.”

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