Police say target killers’ motives match with those of some political parties

Police say the assailants of recent target killings and the saboteurs have been found to have the ‘same motives’ as the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam, who heads Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism unit, briefed the press after arresting two suspected militants at Kamrangirchar on Tuesday.

Evidence found by police links mainly two extremist groups to the series attacks, he said.

“The men who now identify themselves as members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), we call them new JMB.

“We are assuming the men from the new JMB and Ansar Al Islam, who previously operated as Ansarullah Bangla Team, are behind these killings.” 

The reasons that motivate these killers are similar to those of ‘some political outfits’, said the senior official.

“As you know a man named Aslam Chowdhury was arrested recently. He serves as joint secretary general of a party. There are many similarities in their motive with that of these men.”

“Their meeting with Mossad sought to enrage India, saying the minority community or Hindus were under attack and these men (JMB, Ansar) directly took part in these killings.”

Over 40 attacks by suspected militants since 2013 have claimed the lives of secular thinkers, bloggers, book publishers besides foreign nationals, a gay-rights activist and members of Hindu, Christian and Buddhist communities.

Aslam, a BNP leader, has been charged in court with sedition over his meeting with a Mendi N Safadi, a member of Israel’s ruling Likud Party, in India.

Both have denied any conspiracy against Bangladesh’s government, but Safadi in an interview with the BBC had said they discussed the state of Bangladesh and the plight of its minorities.

The DMP’s Monirul Islam said the same link can be made with Jamaat.

“These two groups want similar things. As you know, there are ongoing attempts to disrupt the war crimes trial and to embarrass the government before international spectators.

“The plan is to stop the judicial process by exerting pressure on the government, that’s what they have been doing. So that is a match.”

Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir has been found to be involved in the murders in the northern part of Bangladesh.

“There are plenty of matches in the motives held by militants and these political outfits.”