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Bangladesh

Bangla: Mufti Hanan hanged

2017-04-13

[DAWN] Bangla­desh hanged three Islamist murderous Moslems including the leader of a banned Lion of Islam outfit on Wednesday, after they were sentenced to death over a 2004 grenade attack on the British ambassador. The authorities hanged Mufti Abdul Hannan, the leader of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. ), and one of his associates at Kashimpur prison just outside Dhaka and another associate in a jail in the northeastern city of Sylhet, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. "They were hanged at 10 pm (1600 GMT)," he said. The three were sentenced to death in 2008 for the grenade attack four years earlier at a 14th-century Sufi shrine in Sylhet, which killed three people and injured the British high commissioner at the time. Bangladesh’s highest court last month upheld the death sentence, rejecting the final appeals by Hannan and the two associates, Delwar Hossain and Sharif Shahedul Islam. They had sought clemency from the Bangladesh president in a last-ditch attempt to commute the execution orders to life sentences, but he rejected their pleas. A madressah teacher who studied in India and Pakistain, Hannan, 60, fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan before returning to join HuJI, a group founded for jihadists who fought in that war. Prosecutors said Hannan had headed HuJI since the late 1990s, criminal masterminding deadly attacks on a church, secular gatherings, and mosques used by Islam’s minority sects. In August 2004, in one of the country’s deadliest Lion of Islam attacks, he criminal masterminded the blasts at a political rally of the current Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. outside her party office in central Dhaka. Hasina, then leader of the opposition, narrowly survived what she said was an liquidation attempt. At least 22 people were killed and more than 100 were maimed. By the time Hannan was tossed in the slammer Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in late 2005, more than 100 people had been killed in attacks he orchestrated across the Moslem-majority nation. HuJI was the first Islamist Lion of Islam outfit to emerge in Bangladesh, and rose to prominence as Hannan escalated its deadly operations under his leadership.

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Bangladesh

YouTube training videos key tool for Bangladeshi militants

2017-03-23

[Dhaka Tribune] Law enforcement agencies say homegrown bully boy krazed killer outfits are using readily available videos from the Internet to train their recruits in combat, ideology and organising skills. The videos are widespread even in the world’s largest video sharing website, YouTube. The Chittagong-based krazed killer outfit Shaheed Hamza Brigade was found to be fully dependent on online videos for the training of its members. The Hamza Brigade members took battle training with the help of these videos in remote hill areas of Banshkhali in Chittagong, said Rapid Action Battalion (RAB 7). On Tuesday, RAB caught five members of the New Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New JMB) including engineers who graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) in Dhaka. The group had been taking combat training from online videos of foreign krazed killers, said RAB 10. A cursory search on YouTube using the terms "jihad training" results in many videos that show bandidos Lions of Islam from groups like the international terrorist organization Harkat-ul Jihad or the Iranian group Jaish ul-Adl exercising, doing weapons training, battle formations and hand-to-hand combats. There are also thousands of videos from the Syrian war, filmed by al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front using GoPro. The terrorist groups Ansarullah Bangla Team and Harkatul Jihad Bangladesh also use online videos to brainwash lower income and illiterate people into militancy and extremism, law enforcement members said. Last year the bully boy organization Hizb-ut Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh, conducted an online video conference across the world for its members. Bangladeshi members of the group also viewed the conference, intelligence reports said. Intelligence agencies and detectives said the bully boy groups had been using the Internet to recruit and groom its members due to the absence of government monitoring on the web. As the government cannot impose any bar over viewing such videos on the web, the bandidos Lions of Islam can easily roam around the virtual world and enrich themselves in the ill-motivated sector receiving massive collection of krazed killer related videos and some others, said sources in BTRC. Experts say the government should introduce techniques to stop such instigating videos in the same manner that pornographic websites and videos were controlled in the country recently. Law enforcement sources said the leaders and the top people in these terrorist groups took krazed killer training from abroad by joining international groups in Afganistan, Iraq, Pakistain and other parts of the world. On the other hand, new recruits use the shortcut way of taking training through videos. Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit Deputy Commissioner (Cyber Crime) Md Alimuzzaman said: "We often request the YouTube authorities to take down militancy related videos. They sometimes respond to our requests according to their policies. "We have to introduce a combined system to stop the viewing of such videos." Most of the videos that the bandidos Lions of Islam or potential recruits were watching were made somewhere else, he added. "It is rare for these videos to be made in Bangladesh," he said. Respective cyber crime units in various law enforcement agencies have done good work on this issue, sources said. But the government should impose strong vigilance on the web by taking different measures, they said. Bangladesh Police Headquarters’ Assistant Inspector General (Media) Sahely Ferdous told the Dhaka Tribune: "We have plans to ban such videos. It is an ongoing process with the government. Already we talked to Facebook and got a positive response. In the future, we will hopefully contact YouTube and other popular online sites." The head of Police Bureau of Investigation, Deputy Inspector General Banaz Kumar Majumder, said: "The practice of using the web is not new for krazed killers. The krazed killer organizations use social media and other websites for their communication and training. "Although there are no direct restrictions over such media, we are keeping watch on the viewers and arresting those who are involved with krazed killer activities in the country." Prof Dr Md Ziaur Rahman, chairman of Department of Criminology at Dhaka University, said such practices are a threat to the country’s security. Although the problem cannot be fully solved, it can be controlled, he said. Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Secretary Md Sarwar Alam declined to make any comment about the issue.

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India-Pakistan

Suspected South Asian Al Qaeda commander arrested from Karachi

2014-12-13

[DAWN] Authorities have tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! a man they describe as an important commander in Al Qaeda's newly created South Asian wing, police said on Friday. Police arrested Shahid Usman, in his mid-thirties, and four others in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... late on Thursday. They also seized weapons and 10kg of explosives. Al Qaeda's new South Asia wing, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, tried to hijack a Pak navy ship in September this year, a few days after the group had announced its formation. Police say Usman is the head of the Al Qaeda wing in Karachi, a steamy port city of 18 million people, and was planning more attacks there. "He is the Karachi chief of Al Qaeda's newly formed wing working under the set up of Asim Umar ...chief of al-Qaeda's Sharia Committee for Pakistain, named head of al-Qaeda in India. His video appearances are frequently accompanied by clips of al Qaeda's senior propagandist in Pakistan, Ahmad Farooq. Umar the author of The Army of Anti-Christ: Blackwater, Documentation of the Dreadful Terrorist Activities of America's Blackwater in Islamic Countries... , the South Asia chief of Al Qaeda," a bigwig at the police counter-terrorism unit said. The official said Usman lived in Defence, a wealthy neighbourhood, and owned a car-parts dealership in one of the city's most expensive commercial areas. "Unlike the usual myrmidon profile, Usman comes from an affluent background," the police officer said. Officials said Usman was previously associated with the outlawed Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami myrmidon group, whose operational commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in a US drone strike in 2011 near the Afghan border. Usman had received training in Afghanistan, the police officer said. The suspected turbans were arrested from Lakri Gali, Old Haji Camp neighbourhood of the city, a police statement said, adding that the arrested men "operate Al-Qaeda's network in the city" and were behind several "acts of terrorism". Al Qaeda announced the formation of its South Asian wing on Sept 4 with Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... promising to spread a holy war across South Asia, home to more than 400 million Moslems. Analysts say the move is part of Al Qaeda's plan to take advantage of the planned withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan and boost its influence in the region. The new Al Qaeda wing may also be an attempt to grab back the initiative from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) myrmidon group that was expelled from Al Qaeda for its brutal tactics and which now holds parts of Iraq and Syria. Pak bandidos holy warriors say envoys from the IS are trying to make contacts in the region. Usman's arrest followed the reported killing of two senior Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistain this month.

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Bangladesh

Cop testifies in Aug 21 attack case

2013-08-06

[Bangla Daily Star] One more prosecution witness yesterday testified before a Dhaka court that HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. leader Moulana Tajuddin used to visit the residence of his brother Abdus Salam Pintu, former deputy minister of the immediate past BNP government. Earlier, on Sunday, another prosecution witness gave an identical statement before the same court. Both Pintu and Tajuddin are accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases. Pintu was tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! earlier and he is now in jail custody, while Tajuddin is a runaway accused in the cases. In his deposition before the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 yesterday, Constable Al Mamun said he was deployed at Pintu's Dhanmondi government residence as a security guard form July 23, 2002 to July 6, 2004. Tajuddin used to visit Pintu's residence with some of his accomplices, Mamun said. "We did not obstruct him (Tajuddin) from visiting the residence as Pintu did not give any direction to us in this regard," Mamun added. The witness further said from newspapers, television and people he later came to know that Tajuddin along with Harkatul Jihad al Islami leader chief Mufti Abdul Mannan were involved in Death Eater activities. Mamun was later cross-examined by the lawyers of 28 accused. Cross-examination of the witness will be continued till August 18. A grenade attack was carried out on August 21, 2004 when the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. , now prime minister, was addressing a party rally at the Bangabandhu Avenue. Hasina narrowly escaped death ending up with an ear injury. But 24 leaders and activists of her party were killed, including late President Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman, and 300 others injured.

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Bangladesh

Farid planned Huji revival

2013-04-01

[Bangla Daily Star] Former Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Farid Uddin Ahammad had decided to revive Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. ) in coordination with some Afghan war veterans, former Shibir cadres and leaders and activists of different Death Eater outfits, detectives say. Apart from establishing Khilafat in Bangladesh, he was backing the anti-government movement and obstructing the war crimes trial, they add. "Farid in his publications elaborated the ways of reviving HuJI, its reorganization and future activities," said a Detective Branch official close to the interrogation team. Quoting Farid the DB official, who spoke anonymously, said: "Farid opted for reviving HuJI as there are similarities in the ideologies of the HuJI in Bangladesh, Pakistain and Afghanistan." Since September last year, Farid built up communications with a dozen Afghan war veterans, a number of former and present Shibir cadres and many members of various Death Eater outfits like HuJI, Harkatul Mujahideen and Allahar Dal. Detectives on Friday tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! Farid, who is also known as the ideological guru of different Death Eater outfits like HuJI and Allahar Dal. On the same day, law enforcers also held Afghan war veteran Farid Uddin Masud, who was a leader of HuJI in Pakistain, Shibir cadre Mizanur Rahman, Death Eater leader Mahfuzur Rahman and 12 others, including four Pak nationals from the capital. "The tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! Death Eater leaders directly and indirectly support the anti-government movement and they were working against the war crimes trial," Nazrul Islam Mollah, deputy commissioner of DB, told The Daily Star yesterday. "Among them, Mizanur and Mahfuzur had been playing a vital role in supplying bombs, as they have expertise in making bombs," he added. DB officials said the detained Pak nationals had close links with the Death Eater outfits in Pakistain and an intelligence agency of a neighbouring country. "They were playing roles of carrying and passing information to them," said a DB official. Former Jamaat-e-Islami leader Farid Uddin Ahammad had decided to revive Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) in coordination with some Afghan war veterans, former Shibir cadres and leaders and activists of different Death Eater outfits, detectives say. Apart from establishing Khilafat in Bangladesh, he was backing the anti-government movement and obstructing the war crimes trial, they add. "Farid in his publications elaborated the ways of reviving HuJI, its reorganization and future activities," said a Detective Branch official close to the interrogation team. Quoting Farid the DB official, who spoke anonymously, said: "Farid opted for reviving HuJI as there are similarities in the ideologies of the HuJI in Bangladesh, Pakistain and Afghanistan." Since September last year, Farid built up communications with a dozen Afghan war veterans, a number of former and present Shibir cadres and many members of various Death Eater outfits like HuJI, Harkatul Mujahideen and Allahar Dal. Detectives on Friday arrested Farid, who is also known as the ideological guru of different Death Eater outfits like HuJI and Allahar Dal. On the same day, law enforcers also held Afghan war veteran Farid Uddin Masud, who was a leader of HuJI in Pakistain, Shibir cadre Mizanur Rahman, Death Eater leader Mahfuzur Rahman and 12 others, including four Pak nationals from the capital. "The detained Death Eater leaders directly and indirectly support the anti-government movement and they were working against the war crimes trial," Nazrul Islam Mollah, deputy commissioner of DB, told The Daily Star yesterday. "Among them, Mizanur and Mahfuzur had been playing a vital role in supplying bombs, as they have expertise in making bombs," he added. DB officials said the detained Pak nationals had close links with the Death Eater outfits in Pakistain and an intelligence agency of a neighbouring country. "They were playing roles of carrying and passing information to them," said a DB official.

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Bangladesh

4 Pakistanis held with fake Indian rupees

2013-03-31

[Bangla Daily Star] Sixteen people, including a former Jamaat leader, an Afghan war veteran and four Pak nationals, who were tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! on Friday with bombs and fake currencies, are paraded before the media yesterday. Police in the capital have arrested 12 alleged beturbanned goons, including a former Jamaat leader and an Afghan war veteran, with bombs, bomb-making materials and Tk 1.29 crore in fake Indian currency. One crore=10 million, or 100 lakh. One Bangla taka=one cent. Of the 12, all arrested on Friday night, one is a former Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... leader and the rest are members of different terrorist outfits like Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. and Harkatul Mujahideen and Allah'r Dal. In a separate drive the same night, the Detective Branch of police arrested four Pak nationals with fake 6.3 million Indian rupees. One Indian rupee=2 cents Briefing newsmen, DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said the arrested Bangladeshis were preparing for subversive activities, including attacks on public gatherings and eminent personalities. To remain financially secure, they were counterfeiting money in coordination with the Pak nationals. The seizure also includes eight hand-made bombs, $400 in cash, 4,000 Pak rupees and seven passports -- four Pak and three Bangladeshi. DB officials said they first arrested former Madaripur district Jamaat unit Ameer Dr Farid Uddin Ahammad, 55, Afghan war veteran Farid Uddin Masud, 35, former Shibir cadre Mizanur Rahman, 31, and beturbanned goon activist Mahfuzur Rahman, 23, at a house on Free School Street, Kathal Bagan, with bombs and bomb-making materials. According to DB officials, Dr Farid and Masud had been reorganising the leaders and members of various beturbanned goon outfits to establish Khilafat in Bangladesh through subversive activities. Dr Farid was a Shibir leader while studying at Sylhet Medical College. On completion of MBBS, he got involved in the committee of the Sylhet city unit Jamaat. As he hails from Madaripur, he acted as the ameer of the district unit Jamaat for a decade. Dr Farid, who took part in parliamentary elections as a Jamaat candidate, got involved with beturbanned goon outfit Allah'r Dal, HuJI and Harkatul Mujahideen. He was the ideologue of different beturbanned goon outfits, Joint Commissioner Monirul said. In 1991, Dr Farid allied himself wth Farid Uddin Masud, who stayed in Pakistain till 2004 and got involved with Harkatul Jihad there. Another detainee, Mizanur Rahman, who is a former Shibir cadre, was also a leader of Allah'r Dal. Mizan, a former student of Dhaka University, also had been recruiting members for carrying out subversive activities under the directives of Dr Farid and Masud. DB officials said following the arrest of the four, they around 8:00pm arrested two others -- Abdul Khalid and Mohammad Sajal -- in Paltan area. On information given by the duo, detectives arrested six members of a gang, involved in making fake currencies, at a house in Nikunja-2 under Khilkhet area with counterfeit 66 lakh Indian rupees. The six are Md Mostofa, Mamunur Rashid, his wife Dolly Akhter, Md Abul Bashar, Rezaul Karim, and Roksana Begum. DB said following the arrest of the six, the force conducted a raid at a residential hotel in Bangshal from where they arrested four Pak nationals with fake 63 lakh Indian rupees. The jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! Paks -- Sayeed Uddin, Mohammad Farhan, Rubina Begum and Nargis Akhter -- have visited Bangladesh between six and 12 times. Nazrul Islam Mollah, deputy commissioner of DB (North), said Dr Farid, Masud, Mizan and Mahfuzur had been taken on remand for three days each, the Pak nationals for seven days each and the rest for four days each.

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Bangladesh

Mufti Hannan revealed Hawa Bhaban plot

2013-02-04

[Bangla Daily Star] HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. leader Mufti Abdul Hannan in his 2011 confessional statement named some intelligence and political bigwigs, including Khaleda Zia's Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... son Tarique Rahman ...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office... , as criminal masterminds of the August 21 grenade assault launched to assassinate Sheikh Hasina. ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide... AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, the then additional chief metropolitan magistrate who had recorded the statement, told a Dhaka court about its content yesterday. Hannan, chief of banned hard boy outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), was in the dock while Habibur, now an additional Dhaka judge, was giving his testimony on recording the confessional statement. The Daily Star has obtained a copy of Hannan's statement. The HuJI leader had also narrated some conspiratorial meetings to assassinate Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader. He was present at the meeting along with some influential leaders and ministers of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , HuJI leaders and top intelligence officials. Tarique, then senior joint secretary general of BNP, assigned two party leaders -- state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu -- to provide all out assistance to the HuJI men to carry out the attack. Tarique, elder son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is now the party's senior vice chairman. "Before the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, I along with several other HuJI leaders went to Hawa Bhaban," Hannan said in the statement. Hawa Bhaban was the political office of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. There, the hard boy leader said, he found Tarique, Abul Harris Chowdhury, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Abdus Salam Pintu, BNP politician Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed. Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, then director general of National Security Intelligence (NSI), and Brigadier General Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, then director general of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), were also present. "I informed them about the plan of grenade attack on Awami League rally, which was to be addressed by Sheikh Hasina, and sought their assistance." Tarique then assured them of full support and told them to communicate with Babar and Pintu for administrative assistance, the statement read. Hannan began his statement saying that AL was defeated in 2001 general election and BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami formed the government. His organization tried to strengthen its relation with BNP. HuJI ameer Moulana Abdus Salam, Sheikh Farid, Moulana Yahiya, Abu Bakar and Jahangir Badar contacted BNP politicians Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Kaikobad. The two leaders arranged High Court bails for 41 HuJI men tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! in Dhankhali in 1996. Hannan said the HuJI's communication with the BNP leaders continued and the outfit kept receiving assistance from them. Towards the end of 2003, Abdus Salam Farid, Moulana Tajuddin, brother of BVNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, met Babar at his government residence on Bailey Road in the capital. There GK Gaus, Ariful Islam, former DCC ward councillor; Yahiya and Abu Bakar, were also present there. Babar told Gaus and Arif about the task of Sylhet and ordered them to do the work locally. In Sylhet, local BNP men and HuJI men went kaboom! grenades. At the court yesterday, Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan said around 3:00pm on April 7 of 2011 jail police produced Mufti Hannan at his chamber for recording confessional statement. Hannan was given three hours to make up his mind. Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 recorded Habibur's statement for half an hour yesterday. Later, barrister Fakhrul Islam, a counsel for Mufti Hannan, cross-examined him. The defence will again cross-examine Habibur today as the court adjourned the trial proceedings for yesterday. Syed Rezaur Rahman, chief counsel for the August 21 grenade attack cases, stood for the state. The August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally killed Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, along with 23 others and maimed over 300 people. Sheikh Hasina, now prime minister, narrowly escaped death and suffered ear injuries.

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India-Pakistan

India police detain three people over Delhi blast

2011-09-09

[Dawn] Indian police jugged for questioning three people on Thursday, including the owner of an Internet cafe in Indian-administered Kashmire over an email allegedly claiming responsibility for a deadly bombing of the New Delhi High Court, police said. A powerful bomb hidden in a briefcase outside the High Court killed at least 11 people on Wednesday. Senior coppers told Rooters said they had jugged the owner of an Internet cafe in the Kishtwar region of Kashmire where they suspect the email was sent from early on Wednesday. Indian authorities are investigating a claim of responsibility allegedly made in the email by the Harkatul Jihad Islami thug group, an al Qaeda affiliate. It has grabbed credit for attacks in India in the past. Several groups have been fighting against Indian rule of the disputed region of Kashmire.

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Bangladesh

Tarique okayed Huji plot

2011-08-22

[Bangla Daily Star] HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. leaders met Tarique Rahman a few days before the August 21 grenade attack in 2004 and got the go-ahead to stage the blasts. Lutfozzaman Babar, then state minister for home, Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to then prime minister Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, then NSI director general Brig Gen Abdur Rahim and DGFI director Brig Gen Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury were present at that meeting, held at Hawa Bhaban in the capital's Banani. The attack was the outcome of collaboration between HuJI, influential leaders of BNP and Jamaat, and some officials of the home ministry, police, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI) and Prime Minister's Office (PMO). This is what Sherlocks have found in further probe and described in the supplementary charge sheet in the August 21 murder case. The Daily Star has lately obtained a copy of the charge sheet submitted in July. The August 21 blasts at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue killed 24 leaders and workers including Ivy Rahman, wife of now President Zillur Rahman, and injured 300 others including Sheikh Hasina, now prime minister. According to the charges, leaders of banned Death Eater group Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) had two meetings with Tarique, elder son of Khaleda and the then senior joint secretary general of BNP. Both were held at Hawa Bhaban, widely considered the alternative centre of power during the last BNP-Jamaat coalition rule. At the first meeting, in early 2004, HuJI leaders sought support in executing their plans to assassinate Sheikh Hasina and other top AL leaders. BNP politician Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad had helped arrange the meeting. Tarique assured the HuJI men of all-out support. At the second meeting, which took place in mid-August, he reiterated his assurance to HuJI boss Mufti Hannan and his associates. For the second meeting, HuJI leaders Mufti Hannan, Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Sheikh Farid and Moulana Tajuddin went to Hawa Bhaban on a microbus of Al Markazul Islam, a non-government organization. Moulana Abdur Rashid of Al Markazul was with them, but he was left waiting on the ground floor when they went upstairs to meet Tarique. On August 18, three days before the attack, the HuJI leaders met Babar at the residence of former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. Owner of Hanif transport Mohammad Hanif and BNP ward commissioner Ariful Islam Arif were present at the meeting. Babar and Pintu assured the Death Eater leaders that Hanif and Arif would help them in every way and that "they would receive all administrative assistance." The Arges grenades used in the attack were smuggled in from Pakistain. Tajuddin, Salam Pintu's brother, had supplied the grenades, which were taken to Mufti Hannan's Badda office from Pintu's Dhanmondi residence on August 20. The first charge sheet in the August 21 case was placed in 2008 against 22 people including Salam Pintu and 21 HuJI leaders and workers. The supplementary charge sheet was submitted on July 3, accusing 30 more people including Tarique, Babar, Harris and Mojaheed. It says some police officials deliberately did not take necessary security measures so that the perpetrators had no difficulty staging the blasts and fleeing the scene. The then Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Ashraful Huda, who later went on to become the Inspector General of Police, went abroad on the day of the attack without ordering adequate security arrangements for the AL rally. On his return, he did not take any punitive steps against the law enforcers who were negligent in their duties on the rally venue. The then IGP Shahudul Haque purposely did not update himself with the security measures taken on the rally venue. He did not even visit the scene after the attack, though it was only around 500 yards from his office. He also did not issue any directives to identify or arrest the perpetrators. Tajuddin, supplier of the grenades, left the country for Pakistain on instructions from Babar. Khaleda Zia was aware of this, continues the charge sheet. Tajuddin was given a fake passport with the name "Badal". Saiful Islam Duke, Khaleda's nephew and also private secretary, Duke's brother-in-law and DGFI official Lt Col Saiful Islam Joarder, and another top DGFI official Major Gen (rtd) ATM Amin had helped him flee the country on October 10, 2006.

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Bangladesh

3 ex-investigators sent to prison

2011-07-07

[Bangla Daily Star] Three former Criminal Investigation Department Sherlocks accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases were sent to jail after they surrendered before a Dhaka court yesterday. The three are also accused of misleading the probe into the grenade attack cases. Metropolitan Magistrate Keshob Roy Chowdhury sent them to jail when former special superintendent of police Ruhul Amin and two former assistant superintendents of police Munshi Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid appeared before the court seeking bail. They sought bail in the case filed in connection with the killing of 24 people in the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004. During the hearing on bail petition, their lawyer Abdus Sobhan told the court that his clients were implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass them. He said the rules allow his clients to have bail. Moreover, another case was filed against them in connection with misleading the probe and they have received bail in that case, he said. Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu told the court that the charges brought against the accused were primarily proved. The three accused had earlier misled the probe into the grenade attack cases and he prayed for sending them to jail rejecting their bail. On Monday, three former police chiefs--Ashraful Huda, Khoda Baksh Chowdhury and Shahudul Haque--were also sent to jail after they had surrendered before the same court seeking bail. Two cases were filed after the attack. One for murder of 24 people and the other under Explosive Substances Act. EXPLOSIVES CASE Hearing on the charges against 30 new accused, including BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, in the case filed under Explosive Substances Act will be held on July 14. After scrutinising the case dockets and other relevant documents, Judge Mohammad Zohurul Haque of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court fixed the date for hearing on taking into cognizance the charges against the accused. The court also directed the jail authorities to produce 12 accused, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, on that day. BACKGROUND Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrowly beat feet when a barrage of grenades went kaboom! at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004, killing 24 people. President Zillur Rahman's wife and Awami League leader Ivy Rahman died and 500 others were maimed. In 2008, the CID submitted charge sheets against 22 people including former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and 21 Harkatul Jihad men including thug kingpin Mufti Hannan. On August 3, 2008, a Dhaka court ordered the CID Sherlocks to further probe the grenade attack as the earlier investigation failed to reveal the sources of the grenades and identify the criminal masterminds. After 14 time extensions, the CID on Sunday submitted the supplementary charge sheet accusing 30 more people.

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-Obits-

Death of a quintessential Jihadi

2011-06-08

[Dawn] Within five weeks of the Abbottabad raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden, ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... a CIA drone has cut short the life of Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, a top al Qaeda commander and possible successor to its slain founder. "Welcome to Hell, Mr. Kashmiri. We've had to put you in the third tier between two unnamed non-entities, I'm afraid. With the crowd that's been sent down here lately from your part of the world we're all just having to make do." A veteran of all four 'Jihads' waged in South Asia -- two in Afghanistan, one in India and one in Pakistain -- Kashmiri was a quintessential Jihadi whose life followed a trajectory that encompasses the history of project jihad in Pakistain. Starting his career from the Afghanistan war, he rose to a legendary status in the Kashmir insurgency before returning to the Pak-Afghan border to join al Qaeda and finally turning the gun on his own people and military. We do not know how he was recruited to fight in Afghanistan but we can guess that he was enlisted by a religio-political party like the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) that was actively involved in the process. As a young man in his twenties, Kashmiri showed his promise on the front by becoming a mining expert -- a skill that helped him become an instructor to the Mujahideen. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the former head of JI, once explained to me that the real significance of Afghan Jihad against the Soviets lay in the fact that it was Ummul Jihad (Mother of many Jihads). Amongst the numerous children of the Afghan Jihad, the Jihad in Kashmir was the first born. In 1992, the Mujahideen overran Kabul and the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar Accord was signed for power sharing. Around this time, Kashmir became the most important Jihadi battleground. The JI, once again leading the recruitment drive, came up with an innovative slogan that captured the dominant Jihadi spirit of the time: "Ham Jashn-e-Kabul mana chukay, ab aao chalo Kashmir chalain" (We have celebrated our victory in Kabul, Let's go to Kashmir now). Though a number of Afghan veterans like Kashmiri moved to the new warfront, the Kashmir Jihad produced a whole new crop of Jihadis, comprising mostly of school or college drop-outs from lower middle class background. Contrary to the JI slogan, the Jashan (festival) in Kabul did not end the bloodshed. Nor did it end the Jihad in Afghanistan that continued simultaneously. In fact, the Jihad heated up on a third front with sectarian becoming rife in Pakistain. That old "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind" stuff. Comes back to bite every time. Some Jihadi organisations worked on all the three fronts and Kashmiri was affiliated with one such organisation. He joined the Kashmir chapter of Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami (HJI), headed by Qari Saifullah in 1991, and later formed his own 313 Brigade within HJI after he fell out with the latter. These organisations alongside some other jihadi outfits were so close to the Taliban that their fighters were called the Pak Taliban or Punjabi Taliban while serving in Afghanistan. In Pakistain, many of them actively indulged in sectarianism. In Kashmir, the Jihadis were faced with a very large and ruthless army and they were often able to outdo the enemy in ferocity. A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT) fighter once explained to me smilingly how it was useful to mutilate and disembowel the body of an India solider to "instill fear in the heart of the infidels". I also met a young fighter at the annual congregation of LT who was named Abu Haibat (father of terror) because he had brought from Kashmir the ultimate Jihad trophy -- the severed head of an India solider. According to news reports, Ilyas Kashmiri also ambushed an Indian post and brought back the head of an Indian solider after a village on the Pak side of the Line of Control was attacked by Indian soldiers. This, according to Hamid Mir, the famous journalist and anchor, turned him into a blue eyed boy of General Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... But clearly no less vicious. who also gave him a cash award for bravery. With 9/11 and subsequent US attack on Afghanistan, the story of Jihad and life of Kashmiri took a decisive and a whole new turn. The tap on Kashmir Jihad was turned off without making any effort to integrate thousands of young men who had been militarily trained, who were ideologically motivated and who lacked any marketable skills to start new lives. Alongside his 313 Brigade and many other fighters, Kashmiri joined hands with al Qaeda, vowing to fight USA and the state of Pakistain. He soon rose to a level of prominence and notoriety that he had never enjoyed before. The list of attacks in which Kashmiri's hand is suspected is long. He was accused of trying to murder Musharraf in 2003 and later his name was linked to numerous attacks in Pakistain and abroad including an attack on the US consulate in Bloody Karachi and the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Once considered an asset himself, days before his death Kashmiri inflicted the most serious peace time damage to Pakistain's defence assets by organising an attack on the PNS Mehran in Bloody Karachi. According to US officials, he was al Qaeda's military operations chief in Pakistain and carried a head money of $5 million. Though his links with the Special Services Group remain unverified to date, it is ironical that Kashmiri, who joined a CIA-sponsored jihad in Afghanistan in the 80s, was killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a CIA drone on June 3, 2011. Leaving behind a path of death and destruction, Kashmiri will go down in the annals of history as the home boy of terrorism.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan helped US target Kashmiri: reports

2011-06-06

[Dawn] Pakistain helped the United States locate Ilyas Kashmiri who was killed this weekend by an American drone in South Wazoo, the US media reported on Sunday. The Washington Post reported that the Al Qaeda commander, who also headed a group called Harkatul Jihad al Islami, was on a list of terrorist leaders the United States gave to Pakistain last month. The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported that Kashmiri's death "could go some way to alleviating the strained relations" between Pakistain and the US, particularly after the covert raid on the late Osama bin Laden ... who had a brief but splitting headache... 's compound in Abbottabad. After Bin Laden's death, the US media projected Kashmiri as "the next Bin Laden" and serious contender for the top slot in Al Qaeda. A congressional publication called The Hill noted that "when combined with the Bin Laden killing, eliminating Kashmiri via a remotely piloted drone could give new fuel" to the increasing number of US politicians who say the US needs a "a small but lethally tailored" force in Afghanistan, not tens of thousands of conventional troops. Headley wanted to travel undercover to Fata to present Kashmiri with an ornate sword that could be fitted with a homing device to set up a US missile attack, according to his testimony before a Chicago court. Headley also told the court about a possible plot by Kashmiri to kill the CEO of defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin because he thought the company makes the predator drones. Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a meeting. It was to be his last... some US media outlets published an interview with a Punjabi Taliban leader, Qari Mohammad Idrees. Qari Idrees said Kashmiri was sitting with friends at an apple orchard when he came under attack. Two missiles hit the same place where the beturbanned goon commander and his men were sitting.

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