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Rezaul Karim Raju

Rezaul Karim Raju

Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh

Bangladesh

20051118

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Bangladesh

Hijacking foiled on Bangladesh-Dubai flight, suspect killed

2019-02-25

[DAWN] A flight bound for Dubai from Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, made an emergency landing on Sunday in Chittagong, Bangladesh, after a man attempted to hijack the plane, officials said. The suspect, a Bangladeshi, asked to speak to the country's prime minister before dying from injuries in an exchange of gunfire with military commandos, officials said. The flight, operated by state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines, took off from Dhaka at 4:35pm for the trip to Dubai via Chittagong. The pilot made the emergency landing in Chittagong about 40 minutes later, after a crew member reported "suspicious behaviour" by the man, said Rezaul Karim, an official with the Bangladeshi military's inter-service public affairs office. All 143 passengers and seven crew members aboard the Boeing 737-800 were safely evacuated, Air Vice Marshal Mofidur Rahman said at a news conference broadcast live on Somoy TV. The commandos fired at the suspect after he shot at them when they asked him to surrender, army Maj Gen Motiur Rahman told news hounds, according to ATN TV news. He said that the suspect was carrying a pistol, but did not say where the shooting took place. The army official said the suspect, whose name has not been released, asked to speak to his wife and to 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.. . The suspect died before reaching the hospital, he said. The suspect appeared to be "mentally imbalanced", said Air Vice Marshal M. Naim Hassan, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority. "I am saying this because of his behaviour. He wanted to talk to the prime minister." The Daily Mail says he is 25. Perhaps one day this nutter will grow a name. Update from the Daily Mail at noon ET: A 25-year-old man who was shot dead when trying to hijack a Bangladesh Airlines flight using a toy gun, had been having 'troubles with his wife', police say. The man, named only as Mahadi, used the gun to take a crew member hostage while also demanding to speak with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Update from The Times of Israel at 7:00 pm ET: Bangladesh’s elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion, meanwhile identified the suspect as Mohammad Polash Ahmed from Narayanganj, just outside the capital Dhaka. "His details matched a criminal on our database," the RAB says in a statement, adding he was tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in 2012 over an abduction case and served 20 days in prison. Now he's really dead, beyond all cares and woe.

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Bangladesh

Who is militant Ripon?

2019-01-21

[Dhaka Tribune] The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), in a drive, has locked away Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a JMB member in a drive, named in the charge sheet of the 2016 Holey Artisan attack. A team of RAB 3 arrested Md Mamunur Rashid, alias Ripon, alias Rezaul Karim, alias Reza, with Tk1.5 lakh from the Board Bazar area of Gazipur on January 19. Most commonly known as Ripon, this Death Eater was not only an accused in the charge sheet of the sensational Holey Artisan case but was also a key supplier of money, arms, and explosives for the Death Eater attack. Ripon, 30, son of late Nasiruddin of Shekhermaria village in Nandigram upazila of Bogra, was a member of the Majlish-e-Sura unit of banned Death Eater outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s, which remains obscure and probably defunct today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt. (JMB), RAB's Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said in a briefing on Sunday. Initial interrogation found that Ripon was born in Bogra in 1988 and started his education in a local primary school. His father later admitted him to a madrasa after he finished his third-grade. He studied in various madrasas in Bogra’s Nandigram, Naogaon, and Dhaka’s Mirpur area. In 2009, he completed the Dawra-e-Hadith degree from Madrasatul Darul Hadith in Chapai Nawabganj. He then completed an office application course from Cyber Tech computer training centre in Bogra and started working for the centre. HOW HE GOT INVOLVED IN MILITANCY According to Ripon’s confession, he got involved in militancy in 2013 while he was working at the Cyber Tech computer centre. He was drawn into militancy by one Dr Nazrul, who he knew from before. As he got involved in JMB, Dr Nazrul gave him a new organizational name, "Ripon," even though he was known to all as "Rashid." His main job was to collect funds from members in select areas and hand them over to Nazrul, who was the JMB Ameer of the area at the time. Ripon soon gained the trust of his superiors and debuted as Nazrul’s second-in-command. In a short time, he made a name for himself in the inner circle of JMB for his innovative activities and competence in collecting funds for the organization. Later, through various interactions with JMB Ameer Sarwar Jahan, he came to know several Death Eater criminal masterminds, including Abdullah, a major supporter and benefactor of the Death Eaters. WHAT HAPPENED AT HOLEY ARTISAN? On July 1, 2016, button men stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan area and opened fire. A total of 22 people, including 17 foreign nationals and two coppers, were killed in the attack. On July 2018, police submitted a charge sheet against eight bandidos turbans allegedly involved with the Holey Artisan Bakery attack in Gulshan, Dhaka. Some 21 members of the Death Eater outfit New JMB, a faction of banned Death Eater group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were found to have been involved in the planning and execution of the attack, according to the charge sheet. In November, 2018, a Dhaka court charged eight bandidos turbans in connection with the 2016 terror attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery.

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Bangladesh

Jailbreak plot for Holey attack militants unearthed

2019-01-21

[Dhaka Tribune] Banned holy warrior outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s, which remains obscure and probably defunct today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt. (JMB) was planning to jailbreak the plotters of the Holey Artisan attack, said the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) yesterday after they nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! the arms supplier of the onslaught. At a press briefing, RAB's Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said: "They were planning an operation similar to the one in Trishal to free the attackers of Holey Artisan Bakery." "The bandidos murderous Moslems intended to snatch the prisoners [arrested in the Gulshan attack case], when they were being transported to court from different jails for trial," he added. The elite force said they came upon the information after interrogating Md Mamunur Rashid alias Ripon alias Rezaul Karim alias Reza, a member of the banned holy warrior outfit JMB, who was arrested from Gazipur on January 19. RAB alleged that Ripon is the suspected arms and explosive supplier, and financier for the attack on the upscale cafe in Dhaka on July 1 2016; recovered Tk1.5 lakh in cash during his arrest. In 2014, in a cinematic operation, JMB members killed a policeman and snatched away three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh. RIPON REMANDED FOR FIVE DAYS A Dhaka court has placed the suspected arms supplier Ripon on remand for five days. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Kanak Barua ordered the remand after RAB 3 Superintendent of Police Md Kafil Uddin produced accused Md Mamunur Rashid alias Ripon before court with a 10-day remand petition. He has been placed on remand for a case filed with the Sabujbagh cop shoppe under the Anti-Terrorism Act last April. 'RIPON SENT TK39 LAKH, FIREARMS FOR THE GULSHAN ATTACK’ The suspected arms supplier, Ripon, allegedly sent Tk 39 lakh, firearms and explosives to Bangladesh for the 2016 attack, the elite force said at the presser. RAB official Mufti Mahmud Khan said as per the decision of top JMB leaders, Ripon went to a neighbouring country to collect money, arms and explosives in April 2016. "Ripon confessed that he sent around Tk39 lakh to Sarwar Jahan [chief of New JMB], from that country right before the attack in Holey Artisan bakery," said Mufti Mahmud Khan.

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Bangladesh

The emerging political powerhouse that is IAB

2018-12-27

[Dhaka Tribune] Over the last four years, Islami Andolan Bangladesh ...a minor Islamist party which in the days of Bangla Bhai served as a recruiting agency for the JMB... (IAB) has emerged as a political power in the country. Using a "move alone" philosophy, the Islamist political organization has been steadily and silently climbing up the political ladder. They are now arguably the strongest Islamic party in Bangladesh. After staying out of the 2014 general election, the party has fielded 298 candidates for the upcoming polls on December 30; more than any other party. Previously, the IAB fielded 167 candidates who bagged 658,254 votes in 2008, and the party nominated just three candidates under its hand fan symbol in 2001, who earned 5,944 votes. The IAB was founded under the name Islami Shasontontro Andolon by the late Maulana Syed Muhammad Fazlul Karim, who was a Barisal based pir (spiritual leader), on March 13, 1987. The name was changed to IAB after the Election Commission did not allow them to register under the original name. The primary aim of the organization is to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh. In this regard, the IAB has long been a rival of the country’s other Islamic party and BNP-led 20-party alliance member 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... Bangladesh. According a big shot of IAB, the party has enjoyed a level playing field for election preparation over the last four years. Law enforcement agencies did not bar them from holding any political programs, with the exception of the time when the IAB tried to surround the Myanmar and US embassies after the Rohingya crisis began. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... an IAB delegation led by Senior Joint Secretary General ATM Hemayet Uddin submitted a complaint to the Election Commission on Monday, claiming that activists and supporters of the ruling Awami League-led alliance were now obstructing their political programs as the election was edging closer. IAB Ameer and Charmonair Pir Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said: "Activists and supporters of the ruling alliance are trying to stop the IAB from reaching the people, but their efforts will go in vain. No one can stop the rise of IAB by attacking us." Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Tremulus continued with his speech against Varius and his cohorts, watching as his colleagues dropped off to sleep one by one... representatives of the BNP-Jamaat have been making similar allegations of obstruction by ruling alliance supporters for far longer. Both the IAB and the Awami League have denied rumours that there is a strong connection between the parties, with the aim of making IAB a counterpart to BNP’s Jamaat.

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Bangladesh

RU Prof Rezaul murder: Two JMB men to die, 3 get life term

2018-05-09

[Dhaka Tribune] Two members of banned bad boy outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have been sentenced to death and three others to life imprisonment for killing Rajshahi University (RU) teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique in 2016. After examining the evidence, records and testimonies of the witnesses, Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal’s judge Shirin Kabita Akhter delivered the verdict on Tuesday with three of the convicts on the doc. The death row convicts are JMB members Shariful Islam, a student of RU’s English Department, and Maskawat Hasan of Bogura’s Shibganj, who also goes by Abdullah and Sakib. Both of them were the criminal masterminds behind the gruesome murder, according to Public Prosecutor (PP) Entazul Haque Babu. Shariful, who has been in hiding since the killing, was tried in absentia. The other three convicts are Rahmat Ullah of Nilphamari’s Mianpara, Abdus Sattar and his son Ripon Ali of the city’s Narkelbaria area. Sattar was out on bail till now while the other convicts are currently behind bars. In her immediate reaction to the judgement, Prof Rezaul’s daughter Rizwana Hasin Shotovi said: "We are happy with this verdict although it would have been more satisfying if all the accused were awarded the death penalty . We just hope it will be upheld in the High Court and executed swiftly." "But we want to see runaway Shariful placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... as soon as possible," she said expressing frustration. "Shariful was the one who planned my father’s murder. But he is still free. This is unacceptable. We wanted to see his trial first." The defence counsels have already said they would move the High Court against the verdict. Prof Rezaul, 58, a teacher at RU’s English Department, was hacked to death only 50 yards away from his home in the city’s Shalbagan area while he was waiting for a university bus in the morning of April 23, 2016. According to police, he was a victim of assassinations orchestrated across the country by bad boys. Rezaul’s son Sourov Hossain later filed the murder case at Boalia cop shoppe. Police had submitted the charge sheet against eight JMB members November 6, 2016, more than six months after the killing. Of them, Khairul Islam Badhan, Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hasan and Tareque Hasan alias Nilu alias Osman were killed in reported shootouts with police in Rajshahi and Bogra in different instances.

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Bangladesh

Shafi dumbfounded by reinstallation of Lady Justice

2017-05-30

[Dhaka Tribune] Terming the re-installation of the statue of Lady Justice a matter of grave concern and disappointment, Hefajat-e-Islam ...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home... chief Shah Ahmed Shafi has said they along with the masses were taken aback by the move. "Despite my long illness, I became happy and expressed gratitude when the statue of the Greek goddess was removed [from the Supreme Court premises]. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... only two days after we have now regrettably come to know that the idol was reinstalled in front of the Supreme Court’s annex building. We are flabbergasted by the re-erection of it," the chief of the radical Islamist platform said in a press statement on Sunday. He also said: "Earlier, we placed our demand for removing the idol forever. But, it was reinstalled against the people’s will. "The re-installation has made it sufficiently clear that the government is not paying attention to our calls and peaceful movement. Installing the idol or cloaking it in black during the time of prayers was never an issue. In fact, the issue was whether it will exist or not, and there was no middle way." Shafi added: "We have repeatedly said that justice is a fundamental concept in Islam. Even, establishing justice in the society was a goal of our Liberation War in 1971. So, when we borrow any symbol of justice from the Greek tradition, it means that we have no concept of justice in our history, tradition and religion." He urged the government to remove the statue for good, saying: "Do not play with our religious beliefs, national spirit and heritage. Do not push the country towards the curse of Allah through such anti-Islamic activities." Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... describing the reinstallation as a hide and seek game of the government, 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... Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman in a separate press statement said they were enraged by the move. He also demanded the statute be permanently removed from the court area. Islami Andolon Bangladesh’s Ameer and Charmonai Pir Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said the reinstallation slandered Islam as a religion and the Moslems as a population. Alleging that the government is showing disregard for feelings of the Moslems, who constitute 92% of the country’s total population, he said: "In the next general election, people will boycott the ruling party as it is siding with idols." Mufti Faizullah, secretary general of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... , too demanded removal of the statue.

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Bangladesh

Hefazat: Don’t cover Lady Justice, remove it

2017-05-05

[Dhaka Tribune] Salafist group Hefajat-e-Islam ...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home... has rejected the idea of covering the Lady Justice statue erected on the Supreme Court premises during prayer times, calling the idea "ridiculous." "Covering the statue or not covering it is the same thing," Hefazat Secretary General Junaid Babunagari said in a statement, renewing their demand to install a replica of the Qur’an instead. 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... made the same demand after the prime minister said that suggested that it be covered during prayers at the adjacent National Eidgah. In the statement issued Wednesday, Babunagari argued that a Greek goddess had nothing in common with Bangladesh’s culture and heritage, and hoped that the prime minister would understand the pulse of the people and remove it. Hefazat chief Shafi had claimed that "ideological aggression" was going on against Islam and Bangladesh’s Moslems "in the name of secularism." Islami Andolon Bangladesh chief Mufti Rezaul Karim, better known as Charmonai Pir, had previously warned of bloodshed if the sculpture was not removed. Hardline Islamist groups have been seeking the statue’s removal for several months now. Hefazat, who dubbed the statue an "anti-Islamic idol," approached the prime minister and the chief justice with their demand on February 14. A group of religious scholars, including Hefazat chief Shah Ahmad Shafi, raised the demand at a meeting with 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.. at the Ganabhaban on April 11. Hasina agreed to the demand partially on that day, saying she did not like the Greek statue. The premier later said that the statue should be shifted to a different spot inside the court premises, and hoped that the chief justice would consider the matter. Several ministers and senior Awami League leaders also told the media that the chief justice was the person to take the decision. Soon after the prime minister’s comments, leaders of Hefazat and other Islamist parties that eye Shariah law in the country started demanding removal of all statues of living beings across the country. Even al-Qaeda’s Bangladesh supported Hefazat on the issue. On October 15, 2008, Islamists knocked down the statue of Lalon Shah being erected in front of the Dhaka airport, and damaged the Balaka (crane) statue in Dilkusha area on November 29 the same year.

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Islami Andolon demands removal of SC ‘idol’ before Eid

2017-04-24

[Dhaka Tribune] Members of Islami Andolon gathered at Baitul Mukarram Mosque following the Jumma prayers Friday, renewing demands for removal of the Lady Justice ’idol’ from the Supreme Court premises. On April 20, the Islami Andolon had given an ultimatum to the Supreme Court regarding removal of the statue, saying that half measures were not enough. Thousands joined the protest, causing traffic in the Paltan area to be stopped. The party’s Publicity Secretary Ahmad Abdul Qayyum said that activists had come to Dhaka from across the country to join the rally. Representatives of the party demanded that the Themis sculpture be removed before the end of the month of Ramadan, threatening to blockade the Supreme Court premises after Eid if the demand was not met. Islami Andolon Bangladesh’s Ameer and Charmonai Pir Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim was present at the rally, among others.

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1 dead, 2 children wounded in gun battle after miscreants ambush army patrol

2017-02-14

[Dhaka Tribune] Two young boys in Bandarban have been shot during a shootout between the army and unknown miscreants, police have said. One of the attackers have been killed. The boys, Mangpren Mro, 8, and Di Nung Mro, 7, were maimed when the fight broke out after 4pm Monday in Naikkhangmukh, a locality in Ruposhipara union in Lama, said Lama cop shoppe officer-in-Charge Anwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune. As of 7:30pm, Mangpren was being taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital and Di Nung to Lama Upazila Health Complex, he said. According to Anwar, 15-20 unidentified miscreants opened fire on a patrol team of Ruposhipara army camp around 4pm as it was passing Naikkhangmukh. The team fired back, resulting in a two-hour-long shootout. Soldiers have surrounded the area. A team from Lama sub-zone went to the spot at 6pm. At 9pm, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Assistant Director Rezaul Karim told the Dhaka Tribune an army patrol team was ambushed at Naikkhangmukh. He said one of the assailants had been killed in the shootout while the rest had fled with all the weapons. Raids were underway in the area to find the perpetrators, he added. "The identity of the assailants could not be confirmed, but the dead man was wearing an olive-green unmarked uniform," Rezaul said. "We are suspecting they were members of [Parbatya Chattagram] Jana Samhati Shamiti (PCJSS). "Two civilians were also shot by the attackers. We have taken them to Chittagong for treatment," he added.

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Pro-JMB ‘Ansar Rajshahi’ targets Hindus

2016-08-20

[Dhaka Tribune] Absconding JMB leader Shariful Islam Khalid, a Rajshahi University student who was allegedly involved in the murder of his teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim, is one of the organisers of a new Lion of Islam outfit named Ansar Rajshahi raised in Baghmara area, police have claim Police have gathered evidence that the outfit prepared a list of local Hindus and secularists, and finalised plans to kill a doctor, Nirendranath Sarker. The members communicate with each other through secured messaging application Threema and social media website Facebook. The Sherlocks, however, are yet to know when the group started work and the possible number of its members. They came to know about the outfit after questioning two cousins of Shariful ‐ Aminul Islam Rumi, 23, and Enamul Huq Sabuj, 22, of Sreepur Khamarpara vilage under Baghmara. The duo were nabbed Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on Monday night and produced before a Rajshahi court the following day with a five-day remand prayer for each. The hearing may take place next week, according to court sources. During interrogation, Rumi disclosed the names of three of his associates in Ansar Rajshahi ‐ Rawshan Ali alias Akash, of Parbhangura under Pabna’s Bhangura; Abu Ibrahim alias Tareq alias Ripon, and Md Bulbul alias Alamin alias Billal of Boalia in Rajshahi. Since last year, the JMB members have killed at least seven Hindu priests across the country while threatened several dozen Hindus and Christians with death. The outfit also launched attacks on three Christians in the northern districts. Two of them were killed. Known as a stronghold of outlawed JMB, Baghmara saw a deadly kaboom on a local Ahmadiyya mosque on December 26 last year that killed the JMB suicide kaboomer and injured 10 devotees. In 2004, JMB second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai established a reign of terror in the area by killing and torturing scores of people. Shariful alias Rahat alias Talha, 25, has remained missing for the last 15 months, his family members say. He is the son of Abdul Hakim of Sreepur Khamarpara. He was a student of English department at Rajshahi University. Police claim that he was one of the JMB operatives who hacked Prof Rezaul to death near his house in Shalbagan area on April 23. The family members of Shariful filed a general diary with the police on July 4 seeking information about him. He used to meet Rumi and Sabuj regularly before he going missing last year. The RMP authorities on July 29 announced Tk1 lakh bounty for Shariful and another JMB Lion of Islam ‐ Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hassan who was wanted in 11 cases filed over the recent assassination'>assassinations including Prof Rezaul murder. Nazrul was killed in an alleged shootout with the DB police in Rajshahi on August 1. Families unaware of Lion of Islam link Rumi’s family claims his father Saiful Islam was picked up by plainclothes police from the house at Sreepur Khamarpara village around 1am on August 11. Rumi fled the house sensing the presence of the police. At that time, police allegedly asked the family to hand over Rumi to them to ensure release of Saiful, and they complied with the condition. They went to the cop shoppe around 11am along with Rumi and the police let Saiful go. Rumi’s mother Tayejan Begum said that her son used to say prayers at the local mosque regularly and work with his father in the field. "He was introvert ... was not attentive in his studies." Tayejan said that she had no idea what Rumi and Shariful used to do apart from studies. She claimed that Rumi was innocent and demanded that the people behind Ansar Rajshahi be arrested immediately. A local grocer Ali Hossain said that Rumi and Sabuj used to go to his shop for chat. "They were very close to their cousin Shariful," he told the Dhaka Tribune.

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Bangladesh

IS backpedals on attack claims

2016-07-16

[Dhaka Tribune] 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.... group has issued a list of operations, including the Gulshan attack, that they claim to have carried out in Bangladesh this year. But the brutal bad boy organization has recanted on claims it previously made about five other attacks, bringing the attacks it takes credit for down to 11 from 16. The attacks have left at least 37 people dead. The group updated its tally of terrorist operations in an infographic published by its Amaq news agency early Friday. The five attacks they have disowned are the murder of two homoeopaths in Jhenaidah ‐ Chhamir Uddin Mandal on January 7 and Shia preacher Abdur Razzaq on March 14; Buddhist monk Maung Shue U in Naikkhyangchhari, Bandarban on May 14; Hindu hardware businessman Tarun Datta in Gaibandha on February 8; and Rajshahi University teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique on April 23. IS has so far claimed 25 attacks in Bangladesh since September 28 last year, when an Italian NGO worker was rubbed out in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan neighbourhood. At least 44 people have been killed in these attacks perpetrated by local IS members who identify themselves as the "soldiers of the Khilafah in Bengal." On the other hand, Ansar Al Islam (believed to be outlawed group Ansarullah under a new name) which represents al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in Bangladesh has claimed credit for 13 attacks since 2013 killing 11 people including war crimes trial campaigners, secular bloggers, writers and publishers, and LGBT rights activists.

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Shibir leader accused in RU Prof Rezaul killing dies

2016-05-20

[Dhaka Tribune] A Shibir leader, an accused in the Rajshahi University Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique killing case, has died at a hospital in Rajshahi. Hafizur Rahman, 21, died around 4:30am on Thursday at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, its Deputy Director Dr Gazi Saiful Alam Chowdhury said. "He had been battling anaemia," the doctor said. "This led to respiratory problems and cardiac arrest." In the end it's always cardiac arrest, isn't it? The Shibir leader, who studied public administration at RU, was admitted to the hospital on May 17 after he had fallen sick in prison. RMCH authorities said they would hand over the body to his family after a post-mortem examination. Hafizur, a local Shibir leader, was tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... in Bongram on April 23. He had been in prison since his four-day police interrogation last month. Prof Rezaul was hacked to death near his home in Rajshahi on April 23. His son filed a case without naming anyone. The case was handed over to the detective branch. Police said members of banned Lion of Islam outfit Jamaa'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh were directly involved in the murder.

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